Barely Breathing
by Syd and Z
Summary: Sequel to Twisted Emotions. Chapter 17 is up. Trent continues to feel unwelcomed in Tommy's home.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: We own nothing, except for Naomi Carlton and her family, The James' family (minus Ethan of course) and Trini Hart. Everything else belongs to Disney.

Summary: The others try to recover after what happened in Mercer's lab as they search for Kimberly and Ethan.

Note: Hey guys, its Becky. Yeah, Teal and I figured we made you guys wait long enough, so here's the long awaited sequel to Twisted Emotions.

Tommy, Naomi and Trent got outside and met up with Kira, Conner and Trini. Tommy had his arm around Naomi's shoulders and Trent was just following Naomi. Trini looked at Tommy with tears in her eyes. Tommy powered down as Trini ran to him. Tommy picked her up and held her close as they cried. Naomi looked over at the two of them then looked down.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Conner snapped, seeing Trent behind Naomi. Tommy looked up.

"Conner, he's not under the gem's influence anymore." He said.

"Yeah, right." Conner said. He pulled out his blaster and stalked over, anger coursing through him at the sight of Trent. He shoved Naomi aside. Naomi tripped and fell on her backside. Trent looked at Naomi, and then looked at Conner. Trent glared at him. He slammed his fists into the red ranger's chest like some angered gorilla and then kneeled at Naomi's side. "What the hell...?" Conner asked. Tommy set Trini down and reached into his pocket. 

"He's not under the gem's influence anymore." Tommy began. "Because he's not wearing the gem anymore." He concluded, producing a small white rock from his pocket. Conner and Kira looked over and saw it was Trent's dino gem.

"How…?" Kira asked, confused.

"Get away from me!" Naomi yelled. The others turned to see Trent was fretting over Naomi, making sure she was all right and what not, but she was having none of that as she moved backwards using her hands to pull herself away from him. Kira went over and pulled Naomi to her feet. Trent got up and went to go over to Naomi. Conner got in front of him and put a hand on his chest, pushing him back.

"You heard her." Conner said. Trent didn't seem to put up much of a fight. He seemed satisfied that Naomi was all right and stayed where he was.

"What do we do now?" Kira asked, looking at Tommy. Conner and Naomi looked at him as well. Tommy opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He didn't know what to do, and having three teenagers and a seven year old girl looking at him for answers made him want to scream.

"Let's go back to the lab." He finally said, referring to the lab under his home. "We'll scan for the others." He said.

"What do we do with him?" Conner asked, referring to Trent.

"Take him with us." Tommy said.

"What? Dr. O, you've got to-" Conner began to protest.

"Conner, he's no threat to us now." Tommy said. "Right now he's probably lost and confused, like the rest of us, or even more so." Conner grunted his reluctance but decided against voicing his disagreement further. The others made their way back to Tommy's house where Haley met them on the front porch. It was obvious that she had been anxiously awaiting their return since the moment they left. The second she caught sight of them, she took off in a sprint towards them. She grabbed Naomi in a hug. Naomi barely felt the older woman's arms around her and just stood there.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're all right." She said. She stepped back and looked at the others, just then noticing the missing members and the added presence of Trent. "Where's-" She began to ask.

"They……..Fell into a chasm that Mesogog opened up." Tommy said. Haley opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Conner shoving Trent towards the house and Kira following. Tommy looked at Naomi. "Naomi." He said. She didn't give any indication of hearing him. He went over and grabbed the young girl's shoulder, jarring her to attention. Naomi looked at him with lost eyes. "Take Trini inside." He requested gently. Naomi slowly nodded. She took Trini's hand and led her to the house. Haley looked at Tommy.

"What happened?" She asked. Tommy took a deep breath, gathering the remaining bits of his sanity and dryly told her what went on, not letting his sorrow creep in to his voice, fearful that if he let his emotion out, it wouldn't go back out. As Haley heard his words, her face grew pale from worry for Ethan and Kimberly.

"I'll start a dimensional scan for them." She said. "And…….I'll try and figure out something to do for Trent." She held her hand out to him. "Maybe run some scans on the gem." She said. Tommy got the hint and placed the gem in her palm. Haley's hand closed around it and she went inside. Tommy watched her disappear inside his house. His knees buckled beneath him and he fell to the ground in a sitting position. He sat there for a few minutes, letting out ragged breath after ragged breath. After a few minutes, he got up and walked into the house. He saw Naomi sitting on the stairs, the same lost look in her eyes was there as she looked up at him.

"I…….I put Trini to bed. The others are downstairs." She said.

"Thanks." He said. He went to go down and join the others but stopped. He looked over at Naomi. "Haley will find them." He said. He wasn't sure if it was for her benefit or his own. Naomi didn't respond. He went and sat by her.

"Maybe you should go home. You've had a hectic day." He said. Naomi shook her head.

"No. I'm not leaving until I know for sure Ethan and Dr. Hart are all right." She said softly.

"I think your parents might be worried about you." Tommy said. Naomi let out a short bitter laugh/snort.

"Doubt it." She said. Tommy decided not to touch that comment.

Kira sat on the stair leading up to the computer console, watching Conner. He was attempting to get Trent to sit down. Trent however refused to sit. Conner finally gave up a few moments later, and throwing his hands into the air, he stalked over to Kira and plopped himself down next to her. Conner slid his hand into hers and squeezed it.

"You ok?" He questioned. Kira gave him a forced smile.

"I've been better." She replied, glancing at the ground. Conner released her hand and wrapped his arms around her. "We'll find Dr. Hart and Ethan, I promise Kira." He whispered in her ear. Kira sighed.

"I know." She said softly. She raked her fingers through her hair. "But what do we tell the James'……or school for that matter, until we do find Ethan? And what about the hospital? Dr. Hart works there, how are we going to explain her disappearance?" Conner squeezed her gently.

"We'll think of something. And you know what; maybe we won't even have to worry because we'll find them soon." He said, trying to be optimistic. A loud crash was heard. Kira and Conner looked over and saw that Trent had knocked over some test tubes and they had broken. He looked at the shattered glass and bent down.

"Trent." Haley said, getting up and going over to him. Trent grabbed a shard of glass but dropped it quickly when he cut himself. He stared at the blood as it began to leak out of the palm of his hand. Haley sighed and grabbed his hands. He was like a little child, or an animal, not understanding what was going on. "Don't touch." She said to him slowly, hopping he understood. "Glass, bad." At that moment, Tommy and Naomi walked down the stairs. Kira and Conner moved so they could get through. The moment Trent saw Naomi; he pulled his hands out of Haley's grasp and went over to her. Naomi stepped back, not wanting to be near him. He held up his bloody palm to her. "Trent, come back, I need to bandage your hand." Haley said.

"Why is this freak showing me his bloody hand?" Naomi snapped. Trent whimpered at her harsh tone. Haley sighed and went over. She took his other hand.

"Come on, let me clean you up." She said. She dragged him up the stairs. Trent looked back, his eyes trained on Naomi as he was led off. Naomi went and sat down on the floor in the corner of the room. Tommy sighed. It seemed like Naomi was alternating between sadness and anger, saving the anger for Trent. He couldn't blame her though; Trent had caused her a lot of pain. 

"Dr. O," came Kira's voice. Tommy tore his eyes from Naomi and looked at the yellow ranger. "What's wrong with Trent? I mean, he's acting almost like…….I don't know, an animal." Tommy sighed.

"My best guess is that whatever Mercer…….Mesogog………Whoever, used to make the gem evil does something to the mind of whoever wears it. Trent's been the white ranger for a while so it's affected his mind. Again, I'm not sure." He said.

"Can he be fixed?" Kira asked.

"After all he's done? He can stay in that vegetable state for all I care." Conner spat out. Kira sighed and put her arm around her boyfriend. Tommy tiredly rubbed his eyes.

"Trent didn't choose to be the white ranger just like you guys didn't choose it. It chose us. Now, Trent just had the misfortune of being chosen by an altered gem."

"But we don't know that for sure." Conner informed. "I mean, let's look at the facts-Mesogog is Mercer, Mercer is Trent's father. Isn't it possible that Trent knew exactly what he was getting himself into the moment he touched that gem? Don't you think it's possible that he wanted to help dear old dad's plan?"

"Yeah, but he didn't seem to notice when Mesogog fell in the chasm." Kira pointed out.

"Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. If Dr. O's right, then Trent's brain is basically scrambled mush as it is." Tommy let out a pained sigh.

"Look, Conner, no offense but you have no idea what Trent's going through."

"And you do?" Conner asked.

"Partly, yes." Tommy said. "I started out as an evil ranger. I hurt my friends and everything. But it wasn't my choice. I was under a spell. The other rangers believed I was truly good and didn't stop until they freed me from the spell. I understand that you hate Trent because of what he's done, but he needs us."

"Well, feel free to be there for psycho boy. I'd rather not be around the guy who put me in a coma." Conner said, rising to his feet. "Contact me if Haley finds anything regarding Ethan and Dr. Hart." Conner said as he walked up the stairs and left. Kira looked after him then looked at Tommy.

"I should……Go, see if he's all right." Kira said in an apologetic tone. Tommy nodded and waved a dismissive hand, telling her it was all right. Kira dipped her head slightly before getting up and following Conner. Tommy sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I could tone down the hostility." Came Naomi's soft voice. Tommy jumped a bit. He had almost forgotten she was there. "If you want me to." She added. Tommy sighed and gave a half smile. He walked over to her and sat beside her. "I mean, you do have a point, maybe Trent had no control over what he did. But, he did do it, consciously or not."

"I know." Tommy said. He leaned back against the wall.

"Is he going to be normal again….whatever that may be?" She asked.

"I don't know." Tommy said. "I honestly don't know."


	2. Reliving the Sacrafices

Disclaimer: We own nothing, except for Naomi Carlton and her family, The James' family (minus Ethan of course) and Trini Hart. Everything else belongs to Disney.

Summary: The others try to recover after what happened in Mercer's lab as they search for Kimberly and Ethan.

After a few hours, Tommy sent all the kids home. Naomi didn't want to leave, but the events of the day had begun to catch up with her and she was too tired to put up much of a fight when Conner led her to his car. Naomi fought sleep during the ride home and once they got to her house, she turned down Kira's offer to walk her inside. She walked inside, seeing her parents had already gone to bed. If she wasn't so tired she would have taken offense to the fact that her parents had no problem sleeping even though their only child had yet to come home. Naomi just crawled into bed and fell asleep with her clothes on.

It was Monday morning and Naomi sat outside waiting to go inside for class. She rested her back against a tree, watching all the other kids walking around without a care in the world while she sat there with Ethan's final words before he disappeared into the chasm running in her mind. She sighed and leaned her head back against the tree as she closed her eyes. Her eyes then suddenly snapped open as she heard a voice amongst the voices of the other students. She sat up and her mouth fell open as she saw Ethan walking with some people talking and laughing with them.

"Ethan?" She asked softly. She grabbed her school bag as she quickly scrambled to her feet. "Ethan! Wait!" She called out, but he didn't turn around. She tried to run to him but a crowd of fellow students got between her. She squeezed through them. "Excuse me, excuse me." She said as she tried to get through, but the sea of students just seemed to grow. "Ethan!" She called out. "Get out of my way!" She pleaded as she tried to get through the mass. "Please! Ethan!" She finally managed to break through the crowd and let out deep sigh as she came up behind Ethan. "Ethan." She said softly. She put a hand on his shoulder to turn him around, but the face she saw wasn't Ethan's, it was of the creature that took him away from her.

"Hello, my dear." Mesogog hissed.

Naomi snapped up in a sitting position in her bed. She panted heavily as she came out of the grasp of the dream. Naomi looked out her window and saw the sun was just beginning to rise. Naomi sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest and put her head on her lap as her body shook with sobs.

Tommy awoke to the sound of his alarm going off. He reached over and shut it off. He turned around and reached to the other side of the bed instinctively but all he felt was the cool surface of the unused side of the bed. He opened his eyes and remembered that Kimberly wasn't there. He turned to lie on his back and stared up at his ceiling. After a while, he reached for his phone and called the school, telling them he was sick and they would need to find a substitute for his class. After that, he got up. He walked over to Trini's room and opened the door. He saw her still sleeping in her bed. Tommy carefully walked into the room and sat down on the side of the bed, looking down at the child's face. He gently swept back some hair from her face. He was always amazed at how much she looked like her mother, and now, in Kimberly's absence, it seemed even more remarkable. He leaned down and kissed Trini's forehead before leaving the room. He walked down to the lab where he found Haley at the console, her head resting in her arms. He looked up at the computer screen where Haley had been running the dimensional scans and saw that nothing had been found yet. He looked to the side and saw Trent sleeping in the corner, crunched up like some sort of ape. He put a hand on Haley's shoulder, jarring her to consciousness. She lifted her head up and looked up at Tommy with bleary eyes.

"Hey." He whispered softly.

"Hey." She said.

"I'm going to go make some coffee, how about you come upstairs and have some?" He offered. Haley nodded and got up with Tommy's help. The two adults walked up to the house and went to the kitchen. Haley sat down at the table as Tommy went about making coffee. As he was about to put the coffee grounds in the machine, there was a knock on the front door. He looked at Haley, both wondering who it could be. He set down the bag of coffee grounds and went to the door. He opened it to find Naomi standing on his porch with her school bag.

"Naomi, what-"

"I'm sorry, Dr. Oliver, I just……..I couldn't go to school, I-" Tommy looked behind her.

"Where's Conner?" He asked, figuring Conner gave her a ride. He looked at Naomi.

"I…..I walked." She said. Tommy looked at her, surprised. That was a long walk to take, about two, almost three miles. He stepped aside and let her in. "I'm sorry, I just…….." Tommy put a hand on her shoulder, cutting her off.

"It's all right." He said. He took her bag from her and placed it on the couch. He then put an arm around her shoulders and led her to the kitchen. Haley looked up as they walked in. Tommy had Naomi sit down next to Haley as he went back and continued making the coffee. Haley reached over and took Naomi's hands in hers.

"I……..I had this dream." Naomi said softly. "I was outside of school, and Ethan was there.." Haley and Tommy looked at her as she spoke. "I tried to get to him but there were people…..So many people in my way. I kept screaming Ethan's name but he wouldn't turn around. Then, when I finally got to him, it wasn't Ethan."

"Who was it?" Haley asked.

"Mesogog." Naomi said. Tommy took a deep breath. He went over and kneeled at Naomi's other side.

"You can stay here today." He said, understanding that after a dream like that, there's no way she'd be able to go to school. Naomi nodded.

"Thank you." She said. She looked up. "Any luck in finding them?" She asked. Haley and Tommy shook their heads. Naomi looked down. Haley squeezed her hands.

"We **will **find them. Don't worry." She assured the young girl. Tommy went over and poured Naomi some cereal.

"Here, eat." He said. Naomi looked at the bowl in front of her as she picked up the spoon Tommy had given her. Tommy took Haley's arm and led her away from the table so they could talk in private.

"Haley, I want you to run some tests on Trent, see if you can restore his mind." Tommy said. Haley looked at him. She figured he'd want the boy back to normal, but she thought he'd worry about that only after Kimberly and Ethan were back. Tommy seemed to sense her confusion. "He might know something about where they might be. Maybe he overheard something Mesogog said or something." Tommy said. Haley nodded, understanding.

"I'll see what I can do." She said. She went to go back to the lab.

"I'll bring down the coffee once it's done." He said. Haley nodded as she went downstairs. Tommy returned to the kitchen where Naomi sat, she hadn't even touched the cereal. Tommy sighed and went to the coffee machine.

Kira sat on her bed, staring out her bedroom window into her backyard. She couldn't stop thinking about Dr. Hart and Ethan. When they'd fallen into the pit, Kira had remembered the looks on Dr. Oliver's and Naomi's faces. She couldn't began to even understand what it was like to loose someone she loved in such a horrible way. She slowly stood and walked over to her computer desk. Sitting down she looked at the pictures scattered across her desk. There were a few of Naomi and Ethan that she had planned on giving to the couple. There was one of her and Conner, one of Dr. Hart and Oliver, and then a beautiful group shot. She tossed the frame onto her desk and leaned back in her chair.

"This isn't right..." She sighed as she leaned over, burying her fingers in her hair.

"Kira, Conner's here." She heard her mother call from downstairs. Kira sighed and stood up, grabbing her yellow school bag. She left her room and walked down to find Conner standing by the front door. Kira did her best to muster up a 'so happy to see the love of my life' smile for the benefit of her parents who were enjoying their morning coffee and toast in the kitchen. She didn't want them thinking anything was out of sorts.

"Bye mom and dad." She said as she walked over to Conner.

"Bye, honey, have a good day at school." Her father said. Kira and Conner left. Conner held her hand as they walked to his car and got in. Conner sat there for a while, staring at the steering wheel. Kira looked at him.

"We should go. My parents might wonder why the car is just sitting in the driveway." She said. Conner blinked and slowly started the car. He pulled out of the driveway and drove off.

"Dr. O called, he said Naomi's over at his place and she isn't going to school. He's not going either-called in sick." Conner said as he drove. Kira didn't say anything. "We could go over there, you know, ditch school, and-"

"As much as I want to go to Dr. O's house, people will notice." Kira said softly. "A teacher and two students absent can mean freak coincidence. A teacher and four students absent means something's up."

"You're right." Conner said. Kira turned and looked out the window. She knew that going to Dr. Oliver's would be the best choice, but it would raise a lot of suspicion. She sighed as they pulled up to a stop light. Conner reached over and slid his hand into hers.

"Are you sure you don't want to go?" He questioned. Kira looked at him.

"We'll go there right after school." She suggested. Conner nodded. He understood her point. He could just imagine story crazed Cassidy coming after them, trying to figure out what happened. Conner made the turn to school and continued driving.

Tommy walked down to the lab and found Haley trying to make Trent lie flat on one of the medical tables in the lab. Tommy walked over and handed her a coffee mug. Haley gave him an appreciative smile as she took a sip.

"The guy's stubborn." Haley said, indicating Trent. Tommy looked at Trent, who was sitting up on the table.

"Keep trying." He encouraged as he went back upstairs. Naomi was sitting in the kitchen still, he had managed to get her to eat some of the cereal and now she was just sitting there, staring off into space. Tommy walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Naomi, maybe you should get some sleep." He commented. Naomi shook her head.

"It won't help Dr. O. When I close my eyes my dreams turn into nightmares, and Ethan is really Mesogog. I can't sleep because of it." She cried. Tommy sighed.

"It was just a dream. It's only logical you'd see Mesogog, the reason why Ethan and Kimberly are gone, in your dream. Look, we'll find Kimberly and Ethan. You can't make yourself sick by not sleeping or eating." Naomi looked at him.

"How can you be so calm?" She asked, her tone filled with anger and desperation. She got up to her feet and stared up at the man. "Your wife and your unborn child are out there somewhere." She hit his chest with her fists as tears fell from her eyes. "They're gone." She cried hysterically as she hit him. "Why are you okay!" Tommy quickly threw his arms around her as her sobs overtook her. Tommy held her against him tightly.

"I'm not okay." Tommy whispered softly as he held her. Naomi sobbed against his chest. "But I can't break down. I can't fall apart. I've got Trini and you guys to look after. It kills me that I can't just hold Kimberly in my arms right now, and I'm sure you feel the same way about Ethan, but I'm positive that Ethan wouldn't want you to be suffering from lack of sleep and food. You need to take care of yourself."

"I can't." Naomi sobbed. Tommy sighed and rubbed her back, trying his best to comfort her as she sobbed. From down in the dino lab, Haley listened to the ongoing conversation between Tommy, and Naomi. Having forgotten about Trent, the technician sat down in her chair, looking at the computer controls. _If only……_ She thought. Sighing, she sipped at her coffee. Just as she went to finish the cup, a loud crash scared the red-head, who immediality jumped to her feet. Spinning around, she noticed Trent slowly trying to creep up the steps, but had knocked over a model dinosaur in the process. Sighing, Haley placed her coffee cup down and walked over to him. She snatched his arm and dragged him back across the room. There, in front of her was a chair. She forced Trent into the chair, which was bolted to the ground, and grabbed some rope.

"I'm doing this for your own safety, as well as everyone else's" She said as she wrapped the rope around his wrists and ankles. Although, with Trent's strength, she wondered how long it would hold. She looked at Trent. "I'm trying to help you." She said. "Do you understand me? I need to find out what made you this way so I can fix you and you can then tell us what we want to know. We help you, you help us. Do you understand?" She asked. Trent stared at her blankly. Haley sighed and continued running her tests on him. After a while of her sobbing, Tommy managed to guide Naomi upstairs to his room. After crying so much, she was tired and spent so she just sat on the edge of his bed as Tommy pulled her shoes off.

"Just rest for a little while." He told her. Naomi numbly lay down on her side in a fetal position, clutching the pillow as Tommy pulled the blankets up and covered her with them. Naomi just laid there, empty eyes staring in front of her. Tommy turned and left, hoping she'd fall asleep.

Concentration had never been Conner's strong suit. It only worked well when he was focusing on soccer, Kira or sleep and even food. But school just never clicked. But this, not having Ethan around to poke fun at the soccer star, just made it 100 times worse. First period science had been difficult. Kira had gone into school looking like a train wreck, and he wasn't much better. At least the two had each other during their opening class of the day. From then on, it got worse. Mrs. Hummel, his second period Literature teacher screamed at the class the entire period, Mr. DuVahn his gym teacher, had made them sit through a sex-ed presentation which took all period, and now, Conner sat in his most boring of classes. Math. He and Kira shared Math the same period, but with different teachers. As the red clad teen tried to focus, his eyelids kept drooping shut. His pencil slipped from his hand and his head slowly fell to the desk. The bell ringing, marking the end of class woke Conner from his slumber. He rubbed his eyes and got up from his seat, gathering up his things. As he left the class, he saw his math teacher give him a look that said 'I know you were sleeping, but don't feel like reprimanding you at the moment.' Conner sighed and walked out of the class room. He trotted down the hallway towards his locker. As he approached it, he could see Kira slouched out in front of his locker, her backpack at her feet, and her hair falling into her face. When he reached her he knelt down and brushed the hair out of her eyes.

"Hey.. How was class?" He asked, kissing her cheek lightly. She gave a grunt.

"I did nothing but stare out the window all day... God I couldn't focus on anything except what happened." She replied, standing up and adjusting her jeans. Conner sighed and nodded, agreeing with her.

"Same here. I totally fell asleep in math." Conner said.

"Oh, I've got you beat-fell asleep during music appreciation." She said. Conner looked at her. She was a total wreck if she could fall asleep during her favorite class. He opened his locker and put some of his books away. He then shut the locker and fished his car keys out of his pocket. He put an arm around his girlfriend.

"Come on; let's go to Dr. O's." He said.

"We've still got some classes left-"

"It's obvious that neither of us is exactly in any condition to be academic, let's go." He said softly. Kira knew he had a point and picked up her bag. Conner took it from her and carried it along with his own. Kira gave him as much of a smile as she could as the two quickly left the building, careful not to be spotted by any teachers. However, the two teens were spotted. By Randall of all people. She stood at her window, glaring at the teens.

"How dare they... Perhaps I should follow them..."

"Principal Randall," a voice said behind her. Randall growled as she spun around to see the substitute teacher that had covered Dr. Oliver's class looking at her.

"What is it?" She demanded. The frail little man sank back a bit, surprised by her tone.

"Well, uh, there aren't anymore of Dr. Oliver's classes today…..So I thought I'd leave…….And uh…"

"Does this sentence have a point?" The harsh woman growled.

"Uh…..I just thought I should tell you that I was leaving." He said. Randall rolled her eyes and turned back to the front of the building where she saw Conner's car pull out of the parking lot and turn and disappear from her view. She growled, angered that her plans to follow the two truant students had been foiled. She turned around to face the teacher and gripped his collar. She shoved him against the wall before releasing him and walking away. The man trembled slightly as he watched her leave before quickly scurrying out of the building, swearing never to substitute in Reefside ever again.


	3. Missing vs Gone

Disclaimer: We own nothing, except for Naomi Carlton and her family, The James' family (minus Ethan of course) and Trini Hart. Everything else belongs to Disney.

Summary: The others try to recover after what happened in Mercer's lab as they search for Kimberly and Ethan.

Authors' note: Sorry that this chapter is so short, the next ones will be longer, we promise.

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Kira and Conner drove towards Dr.O's house. The ride was silent as the teens reflected over their day at school. As they pulled into Dr.O's driveway, Conner slowed the vehicle to a stop. The teens climbed out and headed towards the basement. They walked into the lab through the side entrance of the house and saw Haley typing rapidly at the computer console and Trent sitting, tied to a chair not to far from her.

"Do we even want to know why Trent's tied up?" Conner asked, startling Haley who jumped slightly in her chair. She turned to see the two teens. Haley sighed.

"I had to, to keep him from wandering off so I can finish these tests." Haley said.

"How's it going?" Kira asked. Haley shrugged.

"I have no idea how to fix this." She said. Conner didn't seem too bent out of shape about that. Haley turned back to the computer and continued typing.

"Where's Dr. O?" Conner asked. Haley jabbed her thumb upwards, indicating the man was upstairs. Kira and Conner walked up the stairs to the house. They saw Tommy sitting in the living room with Trini. He held her gently as she stared off in the distance. "Hey." Conner said softly. Tommy looked up at them and gave them a nod of acknowledgement. Conner went and sat in the easy chair. Kira sat on the armrest of the chair and Conner put his arm around her waist.

"Naomi's upstairs in my room." He informed them. Kira got up from the armrest.

"I'll go see how she's doing." Kira offered. She didn't wait for them to respond as she walked upstairs to Tommy's room. She slowly opened the door, careful not to make a sound in case Naomi was sleeping.

"Make all the noise you want." Said a soft voice that startled Kira, she looked over and saw Naomi lying awake in Tommy's bed. Kira walked in and shut the door behind her.

"Hey." She said softly. She went over and sat down next to Naomi on the other side of the bed. Naomi turned and lay on her side, facing Kira. "How you holding up?" Kira asked, although the answer could be found by just looking at the girl. Her cheeks were tearstained and her eyes were bleary and bloodshot.

"About as well as you and Conner are, I bet." Naomi said softly. "School's still in session." She pointed out. Kira sighed and nodded.

"We couldn't focus on anything academic. We just had to get out of there." Kira settled down a bit in the bed so that she was leaning against the headboard. The two were silent for a while. Kira looked over at Naomi. "I'm sorry." She said. Naomi gave her a quizzical look. "You know, that you and Ethan just started getting closer and all of this happened." Naomi's eyes became downcast.

"I guess every one of us can't have everything be totally perfect." Naomi mused gently. "I mean, you had to deal with Conner being in that coma. I guess it's now mine and Dr. Oliver's turn to have things go to hell." She paused; thinking about Kimberly made her even sadder. She sat up. "God, what if something happens to Dr. Hart and the baby?" Her eyes clouded with fresh tears. "What if Mesogog hurts them and Ethan?" Kira sat up quickly and pulled Naomi into a hug.

"Hey, hey, it's going to be okay." Kira said as she rubbed Naomi's back comfortingly. "Ethan's strong, and so is Dr. Hart, I'm sure they'll all be fine." She assured her, although she was also trying to assure herself. Ethan and Kimberly were both people close to her heart, and she couldn't bare it if anything happened to them. Nor could she bare seeing Tommy and Naomi in pain if anything should happen to them. Kira sighed and just held Naomi close.

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Downstairs, Conner, Tommy and Trini were all quiet as they just sat in the living room staring off into space. Trini blinked and looked up at Tommy.

"Daddy?" She asked her voice so small. Tommy looked down at her.

"What is it, sweetheart?" He asked.

"Are we going to find mommy?" She asked. Tommy swallowed around the lump that formed in his throat, willing himself not to cry. He couldn't let Trini see him cry. He put his hand on the side of her head and rested it against his chest as he held her closer, kissing the crown of her head.

"Of course we are." He whispered in her hair. Conner watched them and truly felt sympathy for Tommy. He couldn't begin to imagine what he was going through-not only was one of his students/rangers/member of this pseudo-family missing, but so was his fiancée, who was carrying his child. His actual family. Conner couldn't help but admire the restraint Tommy was showing by trying to remain strong. He knew if it was Kira missing, he'd be curled up in a corner bawling his eyes out.

"We will find them." Conner said, loud enough for both of them to hear, his tone strong with conviction. Tommy cast his eyes on the young man in red and saw shinning in his eyes something he desperately needed-Hope.

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"…and I made him turn around," Naomi said, she was telling Kira about her dream. They were both sitting up in Tommy's bed. Naomi had her back resting against the headboard with her knees bent up to her chest and her hands folded on her knees and Kira sat across from her with her legs crossed. As Naomi talked, uninterrupted, her glossy eyes were trained on her hands. "But it wasn't Ethan."

"What do you mean? Who was it?" Kira asked. Naomi blinked and looked up at Kira.

"Mesogog." She said, her voice low. Kira looked at her.

"Oh my god," Kira said softly. "That must've been awful." Naomi looked down as some tears escaped. She wiped them away quickly.

"I mean, what do you think it means? Do you think it means that like Mesogog's……..done something to Ethan? Like……Is Ethan dea…." She couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence as she slumped back and brought her hands up to her face, covering it as she was worked up into near hysteria by the mere thought of it. Kira put a hand on her friend's knee.

"No, no, not at all." She assured her quickly. "Mesogog's the reason why Ethan and Dr. Hart are go….." She quickly stopped herself from using the word 'gone' for fear that the sound of the word would make Naomi even more upset. "Missing." She said, praying Naomi didn't catch that slip. Missing seemed like a safe word. It had hope-Those who are missing can be found, those who are gone, aren't always found, and Kira didn't want to think that they were gone.


	4. Blow Out

Disclaimer: We own nothing, except for Naomi Carlton and her family, The James' family (minus Ethan of course) and Trini Hart. Everything else belongs to Disney.

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The rangers stood by Haley at the main computer console in the lab. She had called them all down because she thought she had made a breakthrough in trying to restore Trent's mind. At the moment, Trent was still tied up in the corner of the room. Kira and Conner stood together on one side while Tommy on the other. Naomi and Trini were also in the lab but sat off to the side, Naomi taking it upon herself to distract the young girl so the others could talk. In Trini's lap, was a small stuffed animal. The teddy bear was old, very old. And completely worse for wear. Its left ear was completely ripped off, and his stuffing was falling out. He was as dirty as could be, but Trini clutched the bear as if it were the last thing keeping her sane in the world. Naomi ran her thumb over the bear's leg.

"That's a cute bear you've got Trini. What's his name?" She asked the youngest. Trini looked at her.

"Thank you, his name is Mr. Ruggers...he belonged to my mommy's friend..." The small child trailed off. Naomi's face fell slightly as Trini mentioned her mother. Trini kicked her feet slightly in a childish fashion. Naomi looked at her.

"I have a stuffed animal too." She said. Trini looked at her.

"But stuffed animals are only for kids." Trini protested. Naomi managed to smile slightly.

"I'm a kid at heart." She defended. Trini giggled.

"What's your stuffed animal's name?" Trini asked.

"It's a unicorn I got from a special friend. I named it after her—Carmie." She said, thinking about Carmella, her old nanny. Carmella gave her the unicorn as a goodbye present after she was fired by her parents. There were many a nights when she was in boarding school that she would clutch the furry rainbow colored toy.

"That's a pretty name." Trini said. Over at the computer, Haley was talking to the others.

"So, basically, I think that if we sort of give Trent a sort of…..electrical boost, he'll be back to normal.."

"You _think_?" Tommy asked. Haley sighed and gave a shrug.

"What are the chances that'll work?" Kira asked.

"About 50/50." Haley said.

"So, there's a 50 chance that Trent will be lucid and back to normal……whatever that may be, and a 50 chance that we'll short out the whole town?" Kira asked.

"That is if we don't totally fry his brain and make things even worse." Haley said.

"Hey, frying monkey boy's brain doesn't sound like a bad idea." Conner muttered. Kira punched Conner.

"Be nice." She scolded. Conner made a face and rubbed his arm. She hit hard. Haley punched a few things into the computer.

"Alright. So we'll try this...and pray to god it works." She said. She stood and walked to where Trent was tied up. Untying him she led him over to a metal table and with the help of Tommy and Conner, forced him to lie down. Trent's eyes shone with fear and he fought them off.

"Trent, calm down." Haley said in a soothing voice. She grabbed his arm and tried to hold him down. Trent growled and shoved Haley away, making her collide with Kira.

"Are you okay?" Kira asked as she gripped Haley's shoulders to keep them from falling into the console. Haley nodded. Tommy and Conner grabbed each of his arms.

"Naomi, I think you and Trini should go upstairs." Tommy grunted as he struggled with Trent. Naomi stood up and took Trini's hand. She quickly pulled the young girl along as she made her way to the stairs. Trent saw her leaving and shoved Conner and Tommy off. He leapt off the table, soaring towards the two girls. Naomi gasped and stumbled backwards, pulling Trini behind her. Tommy saw Trent going towards them. "No." He said softly as he went to aid the girls. Trent landed in a crouch in front of Naomi. Naomi held Trini behind her, shielding the little girl from this fierce monster. Trent looked at Naomi. He got closer to her and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her away from Trini. He held her against him, putting his head against her stomach and whimpering. He held her like a scared little animal would cower in fear with their mother or father. Everyone stared at the scene, unsure what was going on. Trini ran to Tommy. Tommy took her hand and held her tightly. Naomi looked down at Trent. His eyes were squeezed shut and he was shaking slightly against her. Naomi looked over and saw Conner making his way over to her.

"Don't." Naomi said, her voice oozing with forced calmness was shuddering with fear.

"What?" Conner asked.

"Don't come any closer….I think……I think you guys are scaring him." Naomi said.

"Oh, right, he's the only one who's allowed to do the scaring." Conner said, casting a look at Trini who looked absolutely petrified. Naomi expelled a long breath as she slowly took Trent's hands and tried to pry them off of her, which only resulted in him whimpering and holding her tighter, practically making it hard for Naomi to breathe. "Trent.." She said softly, praying he understood her. "Trent…..Please……Let go." She said. "Trent, I can't breathe, let go." She said. Trent's grip loosened. Naomi was glad to see that he understood. She took his hands again. "All right, its okay, no one's going to hurt you." She said in a tone that was like she was speaking to a child even younger then Trini. "They're going to help you." She said. Trent slowly looked up at her. Naomi looked down at him, trying to hide any fear or anger she had for him for the sake of getting him to cooperate. Trent slowly looked over at the others. He slowly let go of Naomi and sat on the floor, his eyes downcast.

"We need to get him on the table." Haley said. Naomi blew out a breath.

"Okay." She said. She kneeled down in front of Trent. "Trent." She said, she took his hands in hers. "Trent, look at me." Trent obeyed. "You have to go lay down on that table." She said, shifting a bit and pointing to the table behind her. Naomi got up to her feet and gently pulled him up. "Come on." She said, trying to lead him over to the table. He slowly followed. They got to the table. She got him to sit down on it and he slowly lay down. Tommy let go of Trini and had her go over to Kira. He and Conner approached the table. They went to strap him down, which caused Trent to get scared again as he tried to fight them off.

"Naomi, do something." Tommy requested, seeing she was the only one he'd listen to. Naomi took Trent's hand.

"Trent, no." She said firmly. Trent looked at her. "They're not going to hurt you, just relax." She said. Trent laid back, staring into her eyes, almost as if he was transfixed, giving Tommy and Conner the opportunity to strap him down tightly.

"All right, psycho boy is secure." Conner said.

"Thank god." Naomi said. She quickly released Trent's hand and stepped away from the table. Trent watched her. Tommy took Naomi gently by her elbow. She looked at him, seeing the gratitude in his eyes. Naomi waved a dismissive hand. Naomi walked over to Kira, Haley and Trini. Trini quickly latched onto Naomi's waist. Naomi figured the little girl was scared for her. She gently stroked Naomi's head and hugged her back.

"All right, Haley, work your magic." Tommy said. Haley nodded. She walked over to a locker at the side of the lab and opened it, pulling out a bunch of electrodes. She went over to the computer and hooked the electrodes to the mainframe by way of a chord then walked over to Trent and gently placed the electrodes on Trent. She put two on each of his temples, and two on his forehead. Once that was done, she walked back over to the computer.

"All right, everyone ready?" She asked, she took the silence as an affirmative. She sat down at the computer and typed some things on the keyboard. "Okay, everything's set up. All I got to do is hit Enter." She informed them. She cast a look over to Trent, then at the others, before turning back to the computer and hitting enter. A sizzling cracking sound filled the air as the charge went through the cord and hit the electrodes. Trent's body tensed as he let out a howl through clenched teeth. The others watched, unsure what was going to happen next. The charge lasted for a long while before there was a crackling sound and all the lights went out.

"Everyone all right?" Tommy asked, the others replied saying they were fine. "All right, I'll go get a flashlight." He said. Tommy slowly walked over to the locker Haley got the electrodes from, careful not to trip or bump into anything. They all heard him shuffling through the locker until a beam of light came, indicating he located the flashlight and turned it on. He walked back over to the others.

"I need to check on Trent." Haley said. She took the flashlight from Tommy and went over to the table. She stood by Trent's prone form, looking over him. "He seems all right, I think." She announced. She set the flashlight down on the table and slowly peeled the electrodes off of Trent. She picked up the flashlight with one hand and opened one of his eyes with the other, examining him.

"Well?" Kira asked.

"He seems to just be unconscious." Haley said. "All of that electricity hitting him must have tired him out."

"So…Do we know if this worked or not?" Tommy asked.

"We won't know anything until he regains consciousness." Haley said. She went back over to the others.

"City blowing out……Who called it?" Conner remarked sarcastically. Kira punched Conner in the arm.

"I did.." She commented. Conner winced and rubbed his arm. He looked at Haley.

"Alright, so now that we have no power..." He stated. "Dr. O, do you have like a generator or something?" He asked the older man. Tommy shook his head.

"I have lanterns." He replied. Kira grabbed the flashlight from Tommy.

"Where are they?" She asked, heading towards the stairs. "In the spare bedroom." He replied. Nodding Kira moved up the stairs and stopped. She hurled the flashlight at Conner.

"I think I can maneuver around up here without it." She said as she continued up the stairs. The flashlight connected with Conner's arm and the jock cried out in surprise.

"Why does she have to always beat me?" He cried, rubbing his bruised arm. Tommy and Haley chuckled.

"Well, it could be because you're a bonehead, but that's just me guessing." Naomi said. Conner shone the flashlight at her. She gave him a sarcastic grin.

"Ha ha." Conner replied. "You're just so funny." He said.

"I try." Naomi said. She went to let go of Trini who was still attached to her but the little girl seemed to be stuck on her with glue. "……And apparently I'm Velcro today or something." Naomi sighed referring to how both Trent and Trini didn't want to let her go. She ran her hand over Trini's head. "Hey, what's wrong?" She asked softly.

"The crazy man grabbed you, I was scared." Trini said softly. Naomi sighed.

"I know, I was scared too, but everything's all right now. I'm fine." She assured the young girl. Tommy made his way over to the two.

"Need some help?" He asked. He bent down and took Trini, lifting her up in his arms, causing her to let go of Naomi. Trini threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in the crook of his neck as she cried. Everyone understood that the girl was sensitive now that her mother had disappeared, and was probably scared that something bad was going to happen to someone else. Tommy gently rubbed her back as he held her close. "It's okay, honey, its okay." He said gently. Naomi slowly reached down and felt around the floor until she felt the fur of Trini's bear that Trini dropped on the floor. Naomi wrapped her hand around the leg and slowly made her way behind Tommy so that she was right by Trini's face.

"Hey, you dropped Mr. Ruggers." She said. Trini reached out and gratefully took the toy from Naomi.

"Thank you." She mumbled, muffled by Tommy's shoulder. At that moment, there was some clanking and footsteps heard coming from the stairs. They all looked over to see a lantern shining as Kira came down with a few other ones in her other hand that hadn't been turned on. Kira waved the lanterns around as she bounced down the steps. Conner looked at her.

"No screaming eh?" He asked her. Kira grinned.

"No Conner, the only screaming I heard was you when I hit you with the flashlight." She replied grinning. Conner was about to reply when his cell phone went off. He reached into his pocket and answered it.

"Hello?" He said.

"Hey man, the whole city just blew out, where are you?" Came Eric's voice. "Mom's worried." Conner rolled his eyes. Ever since the car accident three weeks ago, Conner's mom was always worried about him and Eric. It was getting rather annoying.

"I'm over at Dr. Oliver's house." Conner said.

"Why you always hang out with a teacher, I'll never understand." Eric said. Suddenly, Conner heard the phone being snatched away from Eric.

"Conner, sweetie, are you all right?" Came Mrs. McKnight's voice.

"Yeah mom, I'm fine." Conner said. "I'm at Dr. Oliver's house." He said.

"Oh, well, all right. I want you to stay there until the lights come back on, understood?" She said.

"Yeah." Conner said.

"Good, I love you sweetie."

"All right, mom, bye." Conner sighed as he ended the call. As if on cue, Kira's phone went off. She handed the lanterns to Haley and Naomi as she found her cell phone and answered it.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Kira? Are you all right? Where are you?" Mrs. Ford asked.

"I'm fine, Mom." Kira said. "I'm with some friends…We're having a study session at Dr. Oliver's house."

"All right, well, just stay where you are. The whole city blew out, I don't want you and Conner driving around like this, we don't need another car accident, and don't say Conner isn't with you, because I know he is." Mrs. Ford teased.

"Mom…" Kira groaned.

"All right, all right, well, just stay there and come home tomorrow, or as soon as the lights come back on, which ever comes first." Her mother said.

"All right mom, bye." Kira said as she ended the call. There was silence in the room.

"Guess my folks aren't too worried." Naomi muttered.

"Do you want to call them?" Kira asked, holding out her phone. Naomi shook her head.

"My parents just really don't care...So why bother calling them." Naomi told Kira. Kira shrugged.

"Couldn't hurt." She replied, Naomi shook her head.

"No." She remarked. Kira sighed and put her phone back in her pocket. Tommy looked at Haley. "How long till he wakes up?" He asked. Haley shrugged her shoulders lightly.

"I have no idea. It could be a few minutes, a few hours...or never... It's unknown.. And since the powers gone, I can't do a full scan on him.." She trailed off.

"Hey, ne-" Conner began.

"Never works for you? Wow, ya don't say? We get it; you hate Trent and wouldn't be too bent out of shape if bad things happened to him. Conner, the horse is dead, quit beating it." Naomi said, rolling her eyes. Kira snickered slightly, which received a glare from Conner. He then shot his glance to Naomi.

"You don't even know what I was going to say." He snarled. Kira placed a hand on his arm.

"Conner, stop." She told him. Naomi snorted.

"Oh please Conner; it's been the same since you found out that Trent liked Kira, when you did too. You've hated his guts." She replied. Conner pushed past Kira.

"You have no idea." He snapped.

"You have no idea." Naomi mocked. Conner's eyes narrowed.

"You're so lucky you're a girl." Conner said.

"Oh?" Naomi asked. "Why's that?"

"Cause unlike our unconscious friend, I _don't_ hit _girls_." He said.

"Oh, well, good thing you're a jerk, because I do hit jerks." Naomi replied.

"That's enough." Tommy said firmly. He got in between the two teens. "Look, we're all a little tense right now, which is expected, but there's no point in jumping down each other's throats." Tommy sighed and set Trini down. "Naomi, why don't you take Trini upstairs?"

"Oh, what, so because I'm just a mere human, I get sent away?" Naomi asked.

"Naomi….Please." Tommy pleaded, his patience wearing thin. Naomi rolled her eyes. She turned on one of the lanterns in her hand and placed the others on the floor. She then took Trini by the hand.

"Come on, Trini." She said, leading the little girl upstairs. Conner grumbled as Naomi headed upstairs with Trini. Kira just shook her head.

"Must you always pick a fight with someone?" She asked. Conner just rolled his eyes at her. Kira looked at Tommy. "Dr. O, should we be out in the city helping the civilians? I mean it's a city wide blackout. And this would be a perfect time for Mesogoon and his band of cronies to attack." Kira mentioned. Conner nodded.

"She's right. Plus it's not like we can do anything except wait for Trent to wake up." He continued.

"Well, unless Mesogog has a way of getting out of wherever Kim and Ethan are, I don't see that happening." Tommy said.

"That doesn't mean that Elsa or Zeltrax won't do anything." Kira pointed out.

"Those two are probably scrambling about like chickens with their head's cut off without Mesogog." Tommy replied. Haley looked at them.

"It still wouldn't hurt to help." She commented. "The city is in distress. Take the bikes and go help them... Just be careful. Elsa and Zeltrax could surprise you." She commented.

"All right." He said, realizing she did have a point. He looked at Haley. "Keep an eye on the girls, will you?" He asked. Haley nodded. The three rangers morphed and left to patrol the city.


	5. Waiting

Disclaimer: We own nothing, except for Naomi Carlton and her family, The James' family (minus Ethan of course) and Trini Hart. Everything else belongs to Disney.

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Tommy, Kira and Conner sped through the pitch black city. The moon wasn't even out and the creepy factor had surged through the roof as they slowed to drive along the streets of Reefside. Kira involuntary shivered as they slowed to a stop.

"This reminds me of that massive blackout out east two years ago." She commented quietly. Conner nodded. "But this should only be city wide... right Dr. O?" He questioned. Their mentor looked at him.

"I'm not sure... Kira, I need you to do me a favor." He asked the youngest member of the team. She nodded. "Yes?" She questioned. Tommy pointed to the other side of Reefside.

"I have two friends, former rangers that live out towards Stone Canyon. Dana and Carter Greyson. Dana is about 5 months pregnant, and I need you to make sure they're safe." He told her. Kira nodded. "I'll be back as soon as I can." She replied. She turned to leave when Conner caught her arm. "Be careful Kira, god only knows what Elsa and Zeltrax could do while you're out there." He told her gently. Kira patted his arm.

"I'll be safe. I promise." She reassured him before speeding off. Tommy looked at Conner. "Alright, were gonna split up and search the city. If you see anything suspicious, call me. Don't take it on alone Conner." Tommy chided. Conner nodded and headed off towards the downtown core.

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Kira sped along the streets of Reefside. It looked like a scene out of a bad horror movie. Abandoned cars, paper blowing in the streets, everything was just eerie. And it gave her the creeps. She soon arrived to the Greyson house, causing Kira to give a grateful sigh. She dismounted her bike and walked up to the door. She knocked on the door.

"Mr. Greyson? Dr. Mitchell?" Kira called. "I'm a friend of Dr. Oliver's. He asked me to see if you guys were all right." Kira said. After a while, the door slowly opened as Kira saw someone peek out. The person at the door seemed satisfied with her; Kira figured they believed her once they saw the yellow ranger uniform. The door opened and Kira saw a tall man with blonde hair holding a flashlight.

"Hi, I'm Carter Greyson." He said, letting Kira in. Kira stepped through the door and looked at him.

"Are you both alright?" She questioned. Carter nodded.

"Yeah, just a little shaken up."

"Carter, who's there?" Came a voice. Kira saw another flashlight beam coming towards them attached to a woman with blonde hair. Kira could see her very round belly in the darkness.

"Another one of Tommy's rangers." Carter said. Kira knew about how Ethan had met them a while ago. Carter turned to her. "I'm sorry; I didn't catch your name." He apologized. Kira figured she'd power down so they could at least see her face.

"I'm Kira." She replied. Dana gave her a smile.

"Well, it's nice to meet a fellow member of the past and present super hero club." Dana said. Kira smiled.

"Well, Dr. Oliver wanted me to come by and see if you guys are all right….Everything all right with the baby and everything?"

"Aside from _Carter's _spawn being over a week late, everything's fine." Dana said, giving Carter a glare.

"Dana…..Remember what the doctor said about hostility…" Carter said gently.

"I'm not being hostile. I'm just acknowledging the fact that this baby has obviously inherited your stubbornness." Dana replied. Kira looked at the couple.

"Uh…..Do you……Want me to stick around or something….In case anything…..happens?" She offered.

"No, we'll be fine. Besides, first pregnancies are always late." Dana sighed. She slowly walked over and sat down on the couch. Suddenly, Dana sat up quickly. "….I had to say something, didn't I?" She groaned. Carter looked at his wife. He handed the flashlight he had to Kira and walked over to his wife.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "I thought you said those were false contractions."

"Well, apparently I was wrong, because my water just broke and that definitely wasn't false." Dana said. Kira's eyes widened. Kira stared at the couple.

"You're joking right? The hospital generator was shot with the power when the blackout happened." She told them. Dana's face scrunched up in pain.

"Were serious Kira. I'm having a goddamn baby." Dan screamed. Kira's eyes widened. "Carter... what do we do?" She asked the older man. He looked at her.

"I have no idea." Carter panicked.

"Call Kimberly." Dana said as a contraction hit. Kira looked at her.

"I………I can't…"

"Why?" Dana asked.

"Because she's sort of kind of not in this dimension at the moment." Kira said. Carter and Dana both looked at her.

"What?" Dana asked.

"Honey, just breathe." Carter said, holding Dana's hand.

"Kira, is everything okay over there?" Came Tommy's voice over Kira's communicator. Kira thanked all the heavens. She quickly brought the device to her mouth.

"Uh, not exactly." She said. "Dr. Mitchell just went into labor and I have no idea what to do." Kira said her voice almost like a whimper.

"What? All right, Kira, just calm down, Conner and I will be there soon."

"How soon is soon?" Dana screamed. Tommy's soothing voice came back over the communicator.

"Conner will be there in seconds." Tommy said. Kira sighed and nervously raked her fingers through her hair.

"Everything's going to be fine." Kira said.

"No, I need Kim, she has to be here." Dana sobbed. Carter squeezed Dana's hand.

"It's going to be okay, honey, just relax." Carter said, trying to soothe her.

"Maybe…..Maybe we should like have her lie down or something." Kira suggested. Carter nodded.

"Dana, we're going to move you to the bed, okay?" He said.

"Oh no, no way buddy, that's exactly what got me into this mess!" Dana growled. Kira went over and helped Carter take Dana up the stairs to their room. Carter gently had her lie down on the bed.

"I'll go downstairs and see if Conner's here yet." Kira said, leaving the room. As she descended the stairs, she saw Conner coming into the house as he powered down. Kira led him back upstairs. They both walked into the room. Conner froze.

"What the hell are we supposed to do?" Conner asked Kira.

"I don't know…notice my freaked out expression?" Kira replied. Conner brought his communicator.

"Uh, Haley..." He said. Kira sighed and went to Dana's other side, taking her hand.

"Where's Tommy?" Carter asked.

"He's patrolling the city, making sure everything's all right." Kira said.

"Well, everything is definitely not all right!" Dana screeched.

"Haley…….What are we supposed to do?" Conner asked, he had just told her what was going on.

"….What, just because I've got ovaries, I'm supposed to know how to deliver a baby?" Haley replied. Conner's eyes widened.

"This is one of those questions I shouldn't answer and just keep my mouth shut right?" He asked over the communicator.

"Right!" Kira, Haley and Dana screamed at him simultaneously. Conner jumped backwards, arms swinging.

"Remind me to never get my wife pregnant." he muttered.

"Try calling the hospital." Haley suggested.

"The generators are down and there's no way an ambulance can get here with the city being pitch black like this." Kira said. Haley heard her.

"True, but there should be someone at the hospital anyway, they can probably tell you what to do."

"As in……We'll be……..delivering the baby?" Conner stammered. Kira looked at him.

"We're delivering this baby now Conner. Get over here." She snapped. Conner cringed at her tone and hurried over.

"OK...now what?" Conner asked. Dana clenched her teeth and groaned as another contraction hit.

"Call the hospital!" She shouted.

"Oh….Right…..I knew that." Conner said. Carter looked at him.

"The cordless phone's in the kitchen and the hospital's number is #6 on the speed dial." He said. Conner nodded and quickly got up and ran to get the phone. Conner ran out of the room, and into the darkness.

"Shit, I'm up a creek without a flashlight here." He grumbled. He looked around and his hands groped along the wall trying to find the stairs. He finally found a doorway and stepped down. Too bad that it wasn't the stairs. In the bedroom, a loud tangent of swear words could be heard. The group looked at each other.

"Ignore it." Kira giggled. Back with Conner, he pushed himself up and stormed from the bathroom and turned left. He continued to march forward until his feet went from under him, and he went face first down the stairs.

"What's going on down there?" He heard Carter bellow. Conner felt around himself and saw he was at the bottom of the stairs. He grabbed onto the banister and pulled himself up.

"Just had a bit of a stumble, everything's fine." Conner said.

"A bit of a stumble? Did you fall down the stairs?" Carter asked. Conner grumbled as he headed into the kitchen.

"NO! I just missed the last step." Conner replied. Satisfied with his answer Carter headed back into the bedroom. Conner groped around the kitchen trying to find the phone.

"Where is that damn phone." He snarled quietly. His hand connected with the phone jack, and he grabbed it. "Ha, finally something goes right." He grinned as he pressed the talk button. He lifted the phone to his ear and heard nothing. He tried pressing a few buttons and when it didn't work he growled and chucked the phone against the wall.

"Nothing works in this bloody house!" He screamed.

"Conner! Did you call the hospital?" Kira called from upstairs.

"Unless anyone of us is a yodeling champion, I don't think we're going to reach them." Conner replied. Kira looked at Carter and Dana threw the darkness.

"I think Dana's having the baby here." She commented. Dana let out a scream as a contraction shook her body.

"This thing is coming out of me now!" The former pink ranger screamed.

"Well, what do we do?" Carter asked. Kira got on her communicator.

"Haley, the phone's not working, what now?" Kira asked. Haley heaved an audible sigh.

"I'll try and see if I can hack into the city power grid, maybe I can get the power back on or something. Thank god for battery operated wireless internet laptops." Haley muttered."

"How long is that going to take!" Dana snarled.

"I'll work as fast as I can." Haley promised.

"Fast isn't fast enough." Dana snarled as another contraction hit. "Oh dear god... I need to push." She cried. Kira looked at Carter.

"Uh...do you want to take her pants off? Or should I?" She asked, a blush creeping into her cheeks. Carter chuckled.

"I'll get them." He commented. He reached for the tie on Dana's pants, when Dana slapped his hands away.

"Oh no you don't. This is the result of what happened last time you took my pants off Carter Greyson!" Dana snapped.

"Honey, unless this baby's got super powers and can magically go through clothing, we're going to have to get them off." Carter explained. Dana groaned. Carter undid the tie and gently lifted her hips up to pull them down. Conner came back into the room and made his way over to Kira.

"Guys, I got into the grid, I should get the power back on in a few minutes." Haley's voice came over the communicator.

"Thank god." Kira and Conner both said, not looking forward to delivering the baby.

"Oh yeah, you two are just sitting there while I've got this thing coming out of me! You two soooooo have it awful!" Dana screamed. Carter threw Dana's pants aside and went back to her side and held her hand.

"Honey-"

"Shut up, Carter! This is your entire fault!" Dana sobbed as another contraction hit. Carter sighed and leaned over and kissed her forehead. Just then, the lights flickered and then came back on. Carter, Kira and Conner all gave a sigh of relief.

"Your welcome." Haley said over the communicator.

"All right, Conner, get the phone and-" Carter began.

"Uh……I kind of broke it." Conner said sheepishly. Carter looked at him and rolled his eyes.

"There's another phone in the guest room." Carter said. Conner nodded and left. Dana screamed as she tried to push. Carter looked at her.

"Honey, you need to hold on, Conner's going to call an ambulance and everything's going to be okay."

"I can't!" Dana cried. "It hurts…."

"I know, I know, but we can't deliver the baby without help." Carter explained. Dana shrieked as another contraction hit and she squeezed Carter's hand in a vice grip. Carter winced and crumbled to the side a bit and he and Kira heard some bones crunching. He clenched his teeth and tried to smile at Dana but it came out as a grimace. In the other room, Conner called the hospital.

"Reefside General." Came a female voice on the other line.

"Uh…..Dr. Mitchell…….She's having her baby…..we need help……" Conner stammered. The girl on the line squealed.

"Oh my gosh! She's having the baby? That's so great!" She said. Conner rolled his eyes.

"Can you get an ambulance to her house now?" He asked. "Her…..contractions, they're like coming real fast." He said. The girl became serious.

"Right, right, I'm sorry." Conner heard her clicking on a computer. "We've got one ambulance a few blocks away coming back from being stranded by the blackout, they should be there in two minutes."

"Thank you." Conner said as he hung up and went back to the other room. "The ambulance will be here soon." He told the others.

"If someone uses the word soon one more time, I will cause them severe bodily harm!" Dana snarled. In Conner's current position, he could see that Dana had her pants off and quickly turned away.

"Ya know what, I'm going to go wait for the ambulance to get here." He muttered quickly as he left the room. He ran down the stairs and just as he got to the open door, he saw the ambulance pulling up outside. Two paramedics came out, a tall guy with wavy dark hair and a short African American woman with her hair in braids. They rushed into the house. "She's upstairs…." Conner told them, just as a loud shriek was heard from upstairs. "Just follow the screams." He said. The two paramedics rushed upstairs to the room with Conner behind them. Kira and Carter looked up as they entered the room. Kira moved away from the bed so the two of them could get to Dana. The woman smiled at Dana.

"I guess Heather won the office pool, huh, Dana?" She joked. Dana managed a short chuckle.

"Very funny, Carly." She said. The guy was at the foot of the bed.

"She's too dilated and the contractions are too close for us to even try to get her to the hospital." He informed them.

"All right, Derek, I guess we're going to be doing this here, then." Carly replied. Carter looked at them.

"Here?" He questioned. Carly nodded.

"She's in no condition to be moved to a hospital right now." Derek re-enforced. Derek looked over to see that Kira and Conner looked pale and nervous. "You two should probably wait outside." He said. They nodded and quickly left the room. Derek turned back to Dana. Dana sat up as another contraction hit and she tried to push. Carly clasped her hand.

"Dana, breathe, breathe." She coached as she had Dana rest her back against the headboard of the wall. Dana tried to do so but was to busy screaming and sobbing. Carter stroked his wife's forehead.

"Come on, honey," he said. "You can do this."

"I can't!" Dana sobbed. Carly squeezed Dana's hand.

"Yes you can, now come on, breathe with me." Carly instructed. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Dana looked at her and followed suit. "All right, just keep breathing." Carly said. Derek was busy putting on medical gloves as Carly worked with Dana. Once he had them on he positioned himself between Dana's open legs. He nodded to Carly telling her that he was ready. Carly nodded. She looked back at Dana.

"Okay, on the count of three, I want you to push." She told her. Dana nodded. "Okay, 1……..2…..3….Push!" Dana pushed with all her might as she came forward, baring down. Carter got up and sat behind her on the bed and put an arm around her shoulders. "All right, all right, and release." Carly told her. Dana released and slumped against Carter a bit. "Push." Carly said and Dana did so.

"The baby's crowning." Derek informed. Carter's heart quicken as he leaned over and kissed the side of Dana's neck. Carly massaged Dana's hand.

"Push!" She said. Dana cried out as she pushed again. After a while she stopped and fell back against Carter, panting.

"I can't push anymore.." Dana said tiredly.

"Come on, just one more big push and you got it." Derek said. Dana shook her head.

"I can't." She said. Carter held her close and leaned in close so his lips where right by his ear.

"Come on, Dana, you can do this. You never let me give up back when we were rangers and it seemed like fighting those demons was too hard, and I'm not about to let you give up now." He whispered. Dana looked at him. She nodded gently.

"Okay, I'll do it." She said softly. She took a deep breath as she pushed.

"That's it, sweetie, that's it." Carly said softly. Dana snarled through clenched teeth as she kept pushing. Soon, along with the sounds of her snarling, came the sounds of a baby crying.

"It's out." Derek announced. Dana released and fell back into Carter's arms, panting heavily. Carter smothered her temple and forehead in kisses as Derek and Carly tended to the baby.

"It's a girl." Carly announced. Dana and Carter looked over and saw her holding the squalling bundle. She smiled as she placed the baby in Dana's arms. Dana choked back a sob as tears of joy escaped her eyes. Carter felt tears in his eyes as well as he held Dana closer.

"She's beautiful." Dana said softly. "Even though she's covered in all this stuff.." Dana said. Carter chuckled.

"I love you." Carter said. Dana turned her head and kissed him.

"I love you too."

"We should probably get you guys to the hospital, make sure Dana and the baby are all right, and look at that hand of yours, Carter." Carly said. Carter looked down, in all the excitement, he forgot about his most likely broken hand. Outside the room, Kira and Conner saw Derek come out.

"Is everything all right?" Kira asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Derek said, he went downstairs to get the gurney from the ambulance. A few minutes later they heard him wheeling it inside. Conner went downstairs and helped him get it up the stairs. "Thanks." He said as he wheeled it into the room. A few minutes later, Carly and Derek where wheeling it out with Dana on it, holding the baby and Carter walking beside her. Kira and Conner looked at the couple.

"Oh my gosh." Kira said softly. "She's so adorable." She smiled. Dana smiled tiredly and held the baby close as they descended the stairs. Kira and Conner followed and watched as Derek and Carly got the gurney in the back of the ambulance. Carter climbed in and sat beside Dana. Carly shut the doors. She looked at Conner and Kira.

"We're going to take them to the hospital, make sure everything's all right." She informed them.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Conner asked before Carly went to join Derek in the front of the car. Carly looked at him.

"It's a little girl." She smiled and then got in the car. Conner looked at Kira and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close as the ambulance drove away. "She was so cute...I want one." Kira pouted. Conner looked at her. Conner smiled as he remembered what he saw when he was in his coma. _If only you knew, Kira._ He thought to himself. He squeezed her gently and kissed the side of her head. Just then, they saw Tommy pull up in his cycle, he looked at the two of them and climbed off the bike, powering down.

"Is everything okay?" He asked.

"Yeah. Carter and Dana just got taken to the hospital." Conner said. Kira smiled.

"She had a little girl, she was so cute." Kira gushed. Tommy smiled at the couple.

"Alright guys, the powers back on, so I think it's safe to head back to the air." He told them. They nodded.

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The three rangers came back to the lair and found Haley running a scanner over Trent. She looked up at them.

"Everything okay?" She asked. They nodded.

"How about him?" Tommy asked. Haley set the scanner down and went to the computer to look at the readings.

"It seems like his body's recovering from the charge. But we're not going to know if it worked or not until he wakes up."

"And when's that going to be?" Conner asked. Haley shrugged.

"Couple of hours….days……weeks……who knows." She said.

"So we wait?" Conner asked. Haley nodded.

"So we wait."


	6. Realization

Disclaimer: We own nothing, except for Naomi Carlton and her family, The James' family (minus Ethan of course) and Trini Hart. Everything else belongs to Disney.

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Tommy left Haley, Conner and Kira to go upstairs to check on Naomi and Trini. He went upstairs and saw that the door to Trini's room was partially open. He went over to the door and saw Trini sleeping in her bed and Naomi sitting in a chair staring off into space. Tommy gently widened the door, the creaking sound causing Naomi to break out of her thoughts. She looked up and saw him there. She slowly got up and quietly walked over. Tommy stepped aside so Naomi could slide out of the room. She shut the door behind her.

"Hey, sorry about shoving Trini on you." Tommy said. Naomi shrugged.

"It's all right, I didn't mind." She said. She absentmindedly crossed her arms. "So, is everything all right down there?" She asked.

"Trent's still out, no idea when he'll regain consciousness. Conner, Kira and I just got back from doing a sweep of the city, making sure Zeltrax and Elsa aren't wreaking havoc."

"Oh, so, everything quiet in the city?"

"In terms of Elsa and Zeltrax, yeah." Tommy replied.

"But.." Naomi said, sensing there was more. Tommy chuckled.

"A friend of mine and Kim's went into labor. Conner and Kira went over and tried to help out, thankfully, Haley got the power back on before they actually had to, ya know.." He trailed off.

"Get their hands dirty?" Naomi provided.

"For lack of a better term, yeah." Tommy said. Naomi nodded.

"So, what are you going to do about Trent?" Naomi asked.

"Well, for now, Haley and I are just going to sit with him in shifts, in case he wakes up. The rest of you guys should get home." He said. He turned around to leave.

"I could stay." Naomi said, causing him to stop. Tommy turned to her. "I could stay, so the shifts are divided three ways instead of two.." She explained. Tommy sighed.

"Naomi, you've been here all day. Don't you think you're parents are worried?" Tommy asked.

"My cell phone's been on all day, it hasn't rung at all." She said softly. She looked down and shoved her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. "Forget it." She said. "If you don't want me hanging around here, I'll take the hint." She said. She slowly shuffled past him, making her way to the stairs. Tommy sighed and gently took her arm, stopping her.

"Fine, you can stay."

"If you don't want me to…"

"Naomi." Tommy said.

"…..I'd just rather be here than.."

"Naomi." Tommy said, trying to get a word edgewise.

"I'll just…."

"Naomi, stop." Tommy said, finally cutting her off. He made her look at him. "Stay." He said. Naomi searched his eyes for any sign of him just saying it because she was sounding too sad and pathetic, she didn't find any of that. She gave a weak smile.

"Thank you." She said. Tommy put a friendly arm around her shoulders and led her down the stairs.

"Did you eat anything?" He asked.

"Once the lights came back on, I heated up some Chef Boyardee stuff for Trini." Naomi replied, figuring he was concerned about Trini.

"That's not what I asked." Tommy said. Naomi sighed.

"I'm not hungry." She said as they reached the bottom of the stairs. As if her body knew she had just uttered that statement, a low grumble was heard. Tommy gave her a look.

"So, your stomach's growling because…?" He asked. She looked at him and sighed.

"Alright so maybe I'm a little hungry." She admitted. Tommy smiled and squeezed her shoulder.

"Come on, let's get something to eat." He said, leading her to the kitchen. Naomi sat down at the table as he made some food. Naomi watched him as we went about the kitchen.

"So, I'm guessing that your friend having her baby's got you thinking about Dr. Hart and your baby." Naomi said. Tommy stopped and looked at her.

"What?" He asked.

"Being perceptive is one of my many qualities." She replied. Tommy sighed. He turned back and continued putting together some food. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up." She said.

"It's all right." Tommy said.

"He says with a tone of 'don't want to talk about it'." Naomi said. Tommy chose not to respond. "I understand that you probably feel that it's your job to be strong and everything, but you're allowed to fall apart." She said.

"I don't need to fall apart." Tommy lied as he put two bowls with macaroni and cheese in them in the microwave.

"Bull." Naomi said. She sighed. "Forget it, I'm not about to intrude any further than I already am if you really don't want to talk about it."

"Thank you." He said. The microwave dinged and he took out the two bowls. He brought them to the table along with two forks and set one in front of Naomi before sitting down himself. The two ate silently. Kira and Conner walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, I just got a call from my parents, they want me home." Kira said.

"I'm heading home too." Conner informed them. Kira looked at Naomi.

"Do you want us to wait for you?" Kira offered. Naomi didn't really know how to respond, not wanting to talk about her parents again. Tommy noticed this.

"Oh, you know what, that's okay." He said. "I'll drive her home when she's done eating." He said. Naomi looked at him and gave him a thankful smile.

"All right." Kira said.

"Let's go." Conner said, taking his girlfriend's hand. They left. Naomi looked at him.

"Thanks." She said. "I didn't really want to go into why I lack the desire to go home." Tommy looked at her.

"You and your parents have a fight or something?" He asked. Naomi looked at him. "Perception is one of my skills too." He smiled.

"You need to work on it." She said. "There's no fight. And no, don't want to talk about it."

"Are you sure-"

"I'll talk about it right after you talk about needing to fall apart." She said, giving him a smirk.

"Touché." Tommy said. They continued eating.

"So, who's taking the first Monkey Boy watching shift?" Naomi asked.

"Haley." Tommy answered, not bothering to reprimand the girl for calling Trent that. "I offered to do first watch but she figured I should rest up a bit first so I'm wide awake during my shift."

"I see." Naomi said. The two finished eating and Tommy took the two bowls and forks to the sink and began to wash them.

"So, are you going to be going to school tomorrow?" Tommy asked. Naomi shrugged, and then realized that he had his back to her.

"I don't know." She said. Tommy finished washing the plates and turned to her, leaning against the counter.

"If you need to stay here, you can. Mind you, I'm not talking to you as your science teacher." He said which caused Naomi to chuckle.

"Got it, and thanks." She said. Tommy nodded. He understood her lacking the desire to go to school, and saw that she didn't want to be home, he was sure that part of that was wanting to be near the lab if any news came along, but there was something else there, something she wasn't ready to talk about, which he had to respect and let go. "Besides, it's just the second to last week of school, how much important stuff can be going on now?" Naomi asked. Tommy raised an eyebrow.

"Well, as your science teacher, I must remind you of the little thing called finals." Tommy pointed out. Naomi looked down. If she skipped her finals, the school would call her house because her grades would take a hit, which puts a wrench in the whole plan of keeping her parents out of her life.

"Well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it." She finally said, giving a non-committal and diplomatic answer. Tommy smiled.

"That works." He commented.

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Kira slowly tramped into her room and tossed her jacket onto her chair and flopped on her bed. She sighed lightly as her eyes slowly drifted shut. They remained shut for a few moments until the shrill ringing of her telephone awoke her. Groaning loudly, she rolled over and picked it up. "Hello?" She asked, the sleepiness creeping into her voice.

"Kira?" The male voice asked. Kira perked up slightly.

"Hey Conner." She mumbled as she sat up and propped herself up using her elbows. "What's up?" She asked. Conner fiddled with his jeans.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come over..." He stated. Kira rubbed her eyes.

"Um, yeah for a bit I guess..." She trailed off. Conner smiled.

"I'm sitting in your driveway whenever your ready." he commented. Kira laughed.

"Let me just see if it's okay with the parentals." She said. She walked downstairs and saw her parents in the living room. "Mom, dad, is it all right if I go to Conner's for a little while?" She asked.

"Is his mother home?" Mr. Ford asked. Kira rolled her eyes.

"Yes." She said. Mrs. Ford smiled.

"Sure, just be back by curfew, have fun sweetie." She said. Kira grabbed her jacket from the coat rack and left. She saw Conner sitting in his car in the driveway. She shut the front door behind her and walked over to the car, getting in the passenger side. As soon as she got in, Conner leaned over and kissed her gently.

"I'm sorry, about being a bonehead today." He said. Kira sighed and kissed the corner of his mouth.

"It's okay." She said. Conner leaned back into his seat and started up the car, driving to his house.

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Later that night, Tommy set the sofa bed up for Naomi to sleep in and went upstairs. He poked his head in on Trini and saw her tossing and turning in her sleep. The little girl moaned gently in her sleep.

"Mommy." She said softly. Tommy walked in the room and sat down beside her. He gently stroked her forehead, wishing there was something more he could do. He sat with her for a while until she seemed to calm down and ease into a more peaceful sleep. He leaned over and placed a kiss against her forehead before quietly leaving the room. Tommy sighed as he entered his own room and got into bed. He decided he should at least try to get some sleep before reliving Haley from Trent watch duty. He sighed and rested against his pillow. He turned to his side and smelled the pillow that Kimberly used. It still smelled of the shampoo she'd always use. He closed his eyes as the soft scent of his beloved lulled him to sleep.

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Conner walked into his house, just getting back from driving Kira home when he heard the phone ring. It stopped and Conner figured his mom answered. Conner went to climb up the stairs to his room when his mom stopped him.

"Conner, honey, it's for you." She said, coming from the kitchen. Conner nodded.

"All right, I'll get it in my room." He said. He went to his room and picked up the phone. "Got it." He called out.

"All right sweetie." His mother yelled back. He put the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Conner? Hi, this is Grace." Came a voice. Conner racked his brain, trying to remember who that was. "Ethan's sister." The girl said. Conner's face went pale and his mouth suddenly went dry.

"Oh…….Uh…….Hi." He said.

"Hi, listen, I know you and my little brother are really close and I was wondering if you had any idea where he was. My parents said he never came home last night and no one's seen him since, well, yesterday afternoon before he left to hang out with you guys. I mean, I'm sure he's probably just hanging out with you guys and hasn't thought to call, but with the black out that went on earlier tonight, we're all getting pretty worried."

"Uh, no……….I haven't seen him." Conner said. Grace sighed.

"Not even in school?" She asked.

"No. I'm sorry." Conner said.

"Do you have any idea where he might be? I mean, this isn't like Ethan at all and I just don't even want to think about what could've happened."

"I'm sure he's fine." Conner lied, trying to reassure her. "Maybe he's off waiting in line outside of the tech store for a new video game that's coming out."

"Last time he did that, he called once it got late to tell my parents he was all right. Listen, if you see Ethan, can you please just tell him to get his butt home?" Grace asked.

"Yeah, absolutely." Conner said.

"Thanks." She said before hanging up. Conner hung up and fell back onto his bed. He nearly smacked himself for forgetting that Ethan's family would be worried after not seeing him for more then twenty four hours. He sighed and decided he'd talk to Dr. Oliver about it tomorrow.


	7. Adolescence

A/N: Due to the fact that Becky and I have been insanely busy with other projects as well as school, I think you can forgive us for not updating in so long lol. But we're sorry just the same ;-)

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Bright and early the next morning, Kira and Conner arrived back at the Dino Lair. Conner had explained to his girlfriend about the situation with Grace's phone call last night, and she agreed that they needed to tell Doctor Oliver about it. The two teenagers opened the door to the house and slowly walked in. It was a common thing nowadays that Dr. Oliver left his front door unlocked, that way the teens wouldn't need to spend hours waiting for him to answer. They walked through the kitchen and down the stairs into the cave. Hayley was over in the corner, checking Trent's vitals.

"Hayley?" Kira asked. Hayley looked up at them. Kira and Conner resisted the urge to cringe at the sight of her. She had dark circles under her eyes and her face looked very pale.

"Hey guys." Hayley said, giving them a tired smile.

"You look like you didn't get any sleep at all." Conner said as he and Kira walked over to her to look at the vitals over her shoulder.

"That could be because I didn't get any sleep last night." Hayley said.

"Oh." Conner said, feeling foolish.

"Hayley." Came Tommy's voice as he came down the stairs. "What happened to you waking me up so I could take over watching-" He stopped when he saw Kira and Conner. "Hey guys." He said. They both waved to their teacher. Hayley sighed and stood up.

"Sorry, I just thought that with all that's happened, you and Naomi would need a full nights sleep."

"Wait, Naomi stayed here?" Kira asked, a little confused.

Tommy nodded at them. "She sorta fell asleep on the couch. She's actually still there last I checked. Poor kid hasn't had a decent night's sleep in who knows how long." He commented. Kira nodded.

"I know how she feels... Ever since Kim and Ethan disappeared, sleeping's sorta been hard to do..." She trailed off. Conner rubbed her shoulder softly.

"I know my mind's been going a mile a minute almost every night." He added.

"Is she going to try coming to school today?" Kira asked. Tommy tilted his head to the side a bit and squinted his eyes a bit, having an uncertain expression.

"I don't think so." He said.

"Oh." Kira said. Part of her was a little envious that she and Conner would have to put up the brave front and go to school, pretending like all was well while Naomi could sit and wallow till her heart's content. But then another part of her couldn't even begin to imagine what Naomi was going through. _If it had been Conner that fell into that thing, wouldn't you be doing the same thing?_ She thought to herself.

"Dr. O, we actually needed to talk to you about something." Conner said, interrupting Kira's thoughts.

"What is it?" Tommy asked.

"Grace, Ethan's sister, called me last night. His family's getting worried about him." Conner said. Tommy sighed.

"I knew this was going to happen eventually." He said.

"Any idea what we should do?" Kira asked. Tommy sighed again and shook his head. Conner looked down.

"I think……..I might have an idea." He said.

"What?" Kira asked. "You didn't say anything to me about any idea."

"It's not the best idea in the world and I was hoping Dr. O had something better." Conner said.

"Well, what is it?" Hayley asked. Conner sighed.

"We tell everyone Ethan ran away."

"WHAT!" Came a near shriek which caused everyone to jump. They turned to see Naomi standing at the bottom of the stairs. "You want to tell people he ran away!" She demanded.

"You got a better idea?" Conner asked.

"Well, can't his parents say he's staying with relatives?" Naomi asked.

"But what would we say to his parents to make them say that?" Kira asked. Naomi looked down at her hands.

"Maybe the truth?" She suggested.

"Excuse me?" Conner asked, praying he had misheard her.

"You heard me Conner... We can't lie to them." She replied. Tommy looked at her.

"But we also can't tell them what really happened. That would involve exposing ourselves as rangers." He reminded. Naomi threw her hands into the air.

"Is there any other solution?" She argued back. The team went silent. Hayley was the first to speak up.

"We could always lie about you being rangers, yet tell them that he was captured... I mean it wouldn't be the first time it's been done..." She trailed off, looking in Tommy's general direction.

"I just don't see why we can't tell them the truth. They deserve it." Naomi said. Conner groaned and rolled his eyes.

"No offense Naomi, but it's not like this effects you."

"Excuse me?" Naomi asked, crossing her arms.

"Well, if we get revealed on the evening news or something, it's not like it changes your life one bit, or does it?" Conner asked. Tommy, Kira and Hayley stood there, carefully watching Naomi, unsure how she'd react to that. Naomi shifted her eyes to the side and clenched her jaw.

"You're right." She said. "I don't ride around in a big mechanical dinosaur so I can't possibly offer any insight on this situation." She blinked and looked at Tommy. "I'm going to go see if Trini's awake." Before anyone could say a word, Naomi turned and rushed back up the stairs. Tommy turned and looked at Conner and Kira.

"Maybe you two should just go to school." He said. Kira nodded and took Conner's arm.

"Let's go." She said, dragging him off. Hayley sighed and looked at Tommy.

"You want to talk to Naomi or do you want me to do it?" She asked.

"I'm thinking we just leave her alone for now." He said. "So, you go upstairs and get some sleep and I'll watch Trent." He added, getting behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders, pushing her towards the stairs.

"All right, all right." Hayley said, rolling her eyes.

"You can sleep in my bed." He offered. Hayley nodded and went upstairs. On her way up to Tommy's room, she passed the kitchen where she saw Naomi getting a bowl from the cabinet for Trini who was sitting at the table in her night shirt.

"So, what do you want, Coco Puffs or Honey Nut Cheerios?" Hayley heard Naomi ask while she made her way upstairs.

"Coco Puffs!" Trini said. Hayley heard Naomi chuckle.

"Why do I even bother asking?" Naomi said. Hayley walked into Tommy's room and sat on his bed. She kicked her shoes off and lay down, getting under the covers. Within seconds, she was fast asleep.

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Putting a face on every morning for everyone at school was getting to be an old routine. At least to Kira it was. With Ethan gone, she had to pretend that nothing was wrong, although that was so far from the truth. For Kira, every class was becoming a bore. Even her favorite, music. There was nothing that gave her spark anymore when it came to school. Her days were filled with daydreams and nothingness. The only thing that really gave her joy was Conner... And even then, he was in the same boat as her.

"Can you believe what Naomi suggested?" Conner said, tearing through her thoughts. The two of them were sitting at the grassy knoll outside school. It was lunch time, but it wasn't like either of them had much of an appetite.

"Huh?" Kira asked.

"I mean, yeah, we're all going through hell because of what happened, but we still need to stay level headed." Conner continued.

"I guess." Kira said, although she knew at the moment, she was just backing noise. Conner was in tirade mode as it was.

"And I know she probably thinks I'm being an insensitive asshole and everything, but it's true, she doesn't understand what would be at risk for us if we told them the truth. I mean, the most she'd get would be some reporter knocking at her door because she knows the power rangers. We'd get the bulk of it. I mean vans full of camera crews camped on our driveways, photographers and reporters sneaking into school to try to get a shot of the power rangers off duty. We won't get a moments rest." Conner sighed and leaned back, lying on the ground on his back with his hands under his head. Kira lay on her side and cuddled next to him, resting her head on his chest.

"You done?" She asked playfully. Conner lowered his eyes to her and couldn't help chuckle a bit.

"Sorry, guess I was in rant town for a bit." He said. Kira shrugged.

"It's okay." She said. She sighed and turned onto her back, staring up at the sky. She turned her head and looked at him. "You're not an insensitive asshole." She said. Conner smiled.

"Thanks." He said.

"We've just got to bear with her. I mean, she and Ethan have a pretty huge thing, and he's not around. If it had been me who fell in that thing, would you be keeping a level head?" She asked. Conner was silent for a bit.

"Honestly?" He asked, turning his head and looking at her in the eyes. Kira nodded. "I wouldn't even be able to get out of bed, let alone keep a level head." He said softly, stroking her cheek. Kira smiled and got closer to him, kissing him gently. Conner smiled as they kissed and groaned when Kira slowly pulled away.

"I don't think that's true." Kira said, sitting up. Conner tilted his head in her direction.

"What do you mean?" He asked. Kira chuckled.

"I think you'd be out there, trying to hunt down and kill whatever took me." She chuckled. Conner though about it for a moment, before nodding.

"You're totally right." He replied. Kira sighed.

"Which, is even more reason why we've got to cut Naomi some slack." Kira said. "She doesn't have super dino powers like us or anything, she can't exactly go and hunt down Elsa and all of them, you know?"

"I guess." Conner said. "I mean, I guess she's feeling pretty helpless."

"Maybe even a little useless." Kira pointed out. "What you said about things not affecting her earlier didn't exactly help." Conner sighed and closed his eyes.

"I know. I was teetering very close to jerk land with that one."

"I'm not saying you were wrong…..But it could've been something that was left unsaid, ya know?" Conner nodded.

"I guess I owe her an apology." He stated. Kira nodded.

"I think you do too." She replied. The teens sat there for a moment before the bell went off. Conner groaned.

"I hate math class." He grumbled. Kira laughed lightly.

"I have English." She told him, taking his hand and slowly heading back into the school.

"I win, I have the worst class." He muttered. Kira smiled and stopped outside the building.

"See you after school?" She questioned. Conner nodded and kissed her lightly.

"Definately." He said. And with that they went their separate ways.

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Naomi walked down the stairs to the lab and saw Tommy sitting in a chair by where Trent lay, reading a book.

"Hey." She said. Tommy looked up.

"Hey." He said. Naomi's eyes shifted to Trent.

"How's he doing?" She asked. Tommy shut the book and sighed.

"No change." He said. "Where's Trini?"

"Sleeping." Naomi said. "You know, if it was under different circumstances, I would suggest getting her tested for narcolepsy or something." She said, trying to make a joke. Tommy didn't say anything. "…….And award for most inappropriate joke goes too me." Naomi said under her breath.

"Sorry, I didn't mean-" Tommy began.

"Forget it. It was a pretty dumb joke as it is." Naomi said. She sat down on one of the steps. "By the way, isn't her school going to wonder why Trini's been absent so many times?"

"Took care of that." Tommy said. "I called the school and told them she's got the chicken pox."

"Nice." Naomi said. "So they bought it?"

"They said that since she's been doing so well, I don't need to worry about her missing her tests to move on to the next grade and that they hope she gets better soon." Tommy said.

"Now, what are you going to do if she one day does get chicken pox for real?" Naomi asked.

"She already had them." Tommy responded. "Kim told me once that she had the chicken pox when she was four. She was so miserable."

"Wow, pox at four? That's gotta suck. Although, at least she got 'em out of the way early."

"Yeah." Tommy said.

"So what are you going to do if the school calls because they looked in her medical file and saw she already had the chicken pox?" Naomi asked. Tommy shrugged.

"There have been loads of cases of kids getting it a 2nd time." Naomi nodded thoughtfully.

"That's true." She replied. Naomi fiddled with her hands for a moment during the silence before Tommy spoke.

"Naomi... speaking of school..." He trailed off. Naomi sighed.

"I know what you're going to say. My parents really don't care about me all that much..." She explained. Tommy sighed.

"I know at your age, it feels like that right now, but-"

"This isn't some teenage rebellion." Naomi said, cutting him off. She stood up and paced about the room. "I got kidnapped by Trent…..knocked out and taken from my own house, you guys got me and I stayed here, for all my parents could've known I was lying in a ditch dead or something. Did you see the swarm of cop cars parked outside school or doing door to doors with my picture? Did you see my parents sobbing on the news about their missing daughter?" She asked. Tommy lowered his eyes. Naomi gave a bitter chuckle. "I was here for three days, didn't get as much as a phone call. Ethan's missing two days and his sister's already calling the friends asking about his whereabouts on their parents' behalf. You really think this is the whole 'I feel so alone in my faux jadedness that comes with adolescence' thing?" She asked.

"I-" Tommy began. He stopped, unsure what to say. "I'm sure that your parents care about you greatly." He finally said. Naomi looked at him with smoldering eyes.

"Fine, you want me to leave so badly, I'll leave." She said. With that, she ran up the stairs. Tommy sighed as he heard his front door open and slam shut.

"That went well." He muttered. A few minutes later, Hayley came down the stairs with a puzzled expression.

"I was on my way down here and Naomi nearly knocked me over storming out the door. What happened?" She asked. Tommy sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"She's a little upset right now." Was all he said.


	8. Tension

It had been hours since Naomi had stormed out of Tommy's house. Tommy had tried calling her but there was no answer at her house or her cell phone. Conner and Kira had come by after school and he asked them to go by her house to check on her, but they had come back just to tell him she wasn't home. So now, here they all where, sitting in the underground lab at 8pm.

"You don't think anything happened to her, do you?" Hayley asked.

"Of course not." Kira assured.

"Still, it'd be best if we knew where she was." Conner said. Tommy sighed.

"This is all my fault. I shouldn't have pestered her about her parents." Hayley looked at Tommy.

"Don't blame yourself." She told him. Tommy snorted.

"It was bound to happen eventually." Kira reassured him. "I mean, with all the stuff that she's been through these past few days……what we've all been through." Kira said.

"How about Kira and I go by her place again? Maybe she's home now?" Conner suggested. Tommy nodded slightly.

"We can always hope." He replied before Kira and Conner disappeared out of the room.

"She'll be ok Tommy." Hayley's voice soothed gently. Tommy sighed.

"I hope you're right." Tommy said.

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Naomi sat on the beach, her knees pulled up to her chest and her chin resting on her legs. Her eyes glistened with tears that had been spilling from her eyes for hours. She wiped at her eyes and stared at the crashing waves as memories flooded her senses.

_**Naomi laughed as the waves splashed against the cuff of her jeans. They drove along the shore a bit longer until they came to a small cave at the far end of the beach. He pulled over and jumped off the bike. He held his hand out to her. Naomi giggled as she slid her hand in his gloved hand. He gently helped her off the bike.**_

Her and Ethan's first "date", if you could call it that. "'You're breathtaking'." She whispered to the air the words he had said to her that night. She stood up and walked to the shoreline, letting the cuffs of her jeans get wet. She wrapped her arms around her torso and walked along the shoreline.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Conner and Kira had stopped at Naomi's house again, and to their disappointment, she was still not home.

"I have no idea where to look for her next." Kira commented, glancing out the window. Conner nodded in agreement.

"The school?" He questioned. Kira shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine." She replied. Conner sighed as he put the car into drive and pulled away. Within a short while, they were in the school parking lot. They both got out and walked to the main building, opening the door and walking in. The main hallway was empty and dimly lit. They began walking down the hall and glancing in the open classrooms as they passed them.

"Can I help you, kids?" Came a voice. Kira and Conner turned to see Mr. Denton, the janitor, standing there pushing the mop bucket.

"Uh, yeah, we were wondering if a friend of ours was here." Kira asked. Mr. Denton gave her a look that screamed 'why would someone be here this late?' "She said that she was going to stop by because she left one of her textbooks in her locker." Kira added quickly to avoid suspicion. Mr. Denton shrugged.

"No one's been here except me for hours." He said.

"Oh." Kira said. "Thanks." She said. Kira and Conner bade their goodbyes to the janitor and left.

"Ok, so where next?" Conner asked. Kira sighed as they walked along.

"Let's split up and go from there. I'll go to the beach, why don't you go check the forest." She replied. Conner nodded and kissed her lightly.

"Call if you find anything." He told her. Kira smiled and nodded before walking away. Kira walked along the town until she reached the beach. As she somewhat expected, the place was empty.

"Another dead end." She told herself. She sighed and was about to turn to leave when she saw a figure walking alone the shore. Her eyes squinted. "Naomi?" She asked out loud before setting off down the beach in pursuit of the mysterious person. Once she was closer she saw that it was in fact Naomi. She heaved a sigh of relief and got out her cell phone and dialed Conner's.

"Hello?" Came his voice once he answered.

"Hey, it's me, found her." She said.

"Great." Conner said.

"Call Dr. O and tell him she's okay." Kira said.

"Will do." He replied and with that they hung up. Kira put her phone away and continued after Naomi.

"Naomi." She said loudly, making her stop and turn around. "Hey." She said, giving the shorter girl a smile as she walked the remaining distance between them. Naomi sighed.

"What, did you guys put a low jack on me when I wasn't looking or something?" Naomi asked bitterly.

"Not really, just guessed." Kira replied.

"Well, good guess, mind leaving me alone now?" Naomi requested, turning around and walking away.

"Hey, wait a minute," Kira said, grabbing Naomi's shoulder and turning her around. "We were all really worried about you."

"Yeah, sure." Naomi replied. Kira sighed and decided to take Naomi's tone with a grain of salt.

"Look, it's not a good idea for you to be wandering about alone like this. I mean, Zeltrax and Elsa are still out there." Kira said. Naomi gave a short mean laugh and swatted Kira's hand off her shoulder.

"Oh, here we go again."

"What?" Kira asked.

"I'm not like you guys, I don't have special powers, and I don't count." Naomi said. Naomi let out a strangled sob as she collapsed to her knees on the sand. Kira kneeled beside her. "No one cares." Naomi whispered. "The only person who gave a damn about me is gone." Kira placed a hand on Naomi's shoulder.

"That is NOT true." Kira told her, emotion filling her voice. "Naomi, look at me." Naomi's head slowly lifted upwards. "You are one of my best friends. It does NOT matter if you're a ranger or not. We care about you." Kira told her, tears filling her eyes. Naomi shook her hand off her.

"Just leave me alone." Naomi said, getting up and walking along the beach. Kira sighed. She stood and followed after Naomi.

"Naomi lo-" Naomi spun around and interrupted her.

"No. You LOOK! The person I care about fell into that chasm and ISN'T coming home Kira! Or don't you get that? You don't seem to grasp that fact." Naomi cried before turning around once more. Kira stared at her.

"Do you not think the same thing would be running through my head if something had happened to Conner instead of Ethan or Dr. Hart?" Her voice grew quiet. Naomi stopped and looked at her.

"Well there's the difference, Conner didn't fall in did he?" She spat. Kira took a deep breath.

"No, but my best friend did." She said. Naomi gave a bitter laugh.

"Fine, I'll give you that." She said, looking at her. "You guys are friends, teammates, practically family, so, sure, I'll give you that the fact that Ethan, your quasi-brother, and Dr. Hart, who's……what, your quasi-mother?...I'll give you that them falling in there is tearing you guys to bits and pieces, I'm sure it is." Naomi walked up to Kira. "But here's my question—did either of them fall in because they were trying to save your life? Hmm?" Kira was silent. "No. They didn't. Dr. Hart would've been fine if she had gone out of the cage first and she and Dr. Oliver pulled Trini out together, but she didn't do that, did she? Ethan would be here right now if he hadn't pulled Mesogog into the chasm, but he did, didn't he? I mean, god, I envy Trini so much for not being old enough to actually understand this and be feeling all this……guilt…….." Naomi sighed. "Although, maybe I'm wrong, maybe that's why she's always sleeping, it's how she's dealing."

"And is this how you deal? Making those who care about you worry for hours?" Kira shot back.

"Who? Who cares about me, Kira?" Naomi asked. "Dr. Oliver? Dr. Oliver who doesn't have the balls to tell me to just go home, he goes on and on about my parents being worried about me? Or, Connor? Oh sure, Conner cares. He cares so much he just had to rub it in my face that I'm not like you guys. I'm weak."

"That's not true and you know it." Kira said.

"Oh, spare me." Naomi muttered. Kira gritted her teeth as her chest burned with anger.

"No, Naomi, you spare me. I get it, okay? We all get it. We've gotten the memo and it's imprinted in our memory—you're having a hard time dealing with all of this. Fine. But don't you dare, don't you _fucking _dare try and say we don't understand. You're worried about Ethan, right?" She asked. "You care about him, heck, for all I know, you might even love the guy, and he's not here, and you're worried. Well, what the hell do you think I was going through when Conner was in that coma, huh? Conner shielded me when the car crashed, don't you think I thought the same thoughts you're thinking? How Conner would be fine if it hadn't been for me? And what about Dr. O? Dr. Hart's pregnant with his baby, in case you've forgotten. So while you're standing here whining about your boyfriend, think about how his fiancée and his damn baby are gone." Kira spat out. Naomi's jaw dropped open at Kira's remarks. So this was it. Someone had finally put her in her place and basically told her to grow the hell up. Wow, it hurt.

"Kira... I..." Naomi tried to explain.

"Don't bother explaining Naomi, I've heard it. Just come back with me. Let's go." Kira commented before turning on her heel to leave.

"Oh you're not going anywhere." Commented a voice in the dark." Kira stopped dead in her tracks, and got into a fighting position.

"Who's there?" She snarled angrily. She so wasn't in the mood to deal with some pathetic monster. The voice turned into a figure that stood a few feet in front of Kira.

"Elsa." Naomi whispered.

"Shit." Kira muttered. "Naomi, get out of here." She said. Naomi shook her head.

"No." Naomi said. She wasn't about to let someone else get hurt just for her sake.

"Awww, how sweet, friends sticking together." Elsa sneered. She smirked at Kira. "Anyway, girlie, you're not the one I want." She said. Kira drew a questioning expression. Elsa threw a spinning kick which caught Kira in the side of the face knocking her down.

"Kira!" Naomi shrieked. Naomi stared at Elsa with wide eyes as she stalked towards her.

"Your little boyfriend ruined EVERYTHING." Elsa snarled.

"Yeah, well, in case you haven't noticed, he's not here." Naomi replied in the same tone. Kira shook her head as she slowly got up. Naomi's eye shifted to her but her attention was brought back to the leather clad she-witch as she felt a vice-like grip enclose around her neck. Naomi gasped as it became harder to breath. Elsa growled as she lifted Naomi off the ground by her neck. She drew Naomi close so she could whisper in the girl's ear.

"It's his fault the one I love is gone, so now it can be his fault the one he loves is gone too." She whispered, tightening her grip. Naomi gasped as her eyes bulged out from the lack of oxygen. Her mind raced as she clawed at the woman's hand. "Awww, struggle, you little weakling, it makes this even more fun." Elsa sneered.

"El……" Naomi gasped out.

"Aw, some last words?" Elsa asked. Naomi gave a small attempt at a nod. "All right, I'll oblige." She said. She drew Naomi even closer. "What is it?"

"I'm not as weak as you think." Naomi said. Elsa's brows furrowed in confusion, but her confusion was short lived as Naomi's knee connected with Elsa's stomach. Elsa stumbled back, dropping the girl on to the sand. Naomi coughed and gasped as oxygen returned to her lungs. She looked up and saw, through bleary eyes, Kira sitting up and opening her mouth wide, taking a deep breath. It was then that she remembered what Ethan told her the night he and Tommy saved her from Trent. ****

"_**Wait, Dr. Oliver can turn invisible?" Naomi asked after Ethan finished.**_

"_**Yeah. It's the gems. They give us these sort of extra powers."**_

"_**Oh, what's yours?" Naomi asked.**_

"_**Super strength. Which is how I was able to catch you."**_

"_**I was wondering why it felt like I landed on something firm." Naomi said, smiling. "What about Conner and Kira?" She asked.**_

"_**Super speed and super sonic screaming."**_

Naomi quickly understood what Kira was about to do and ducked her head down, covering her ears. Kira unleashed a high pitched scream which hit Elsa's ears directly, knocking her down. Once Elsa was down, Kira scrambled to her feet and ran to Naomi, grabbing her arm and pulling her up.

"Run. Now!" Were the only words Kira uttered before they took off down the beach running at full speed. Elsa pushed herself up from the sand and watched them run.

"Run, run, run as fast as you can." She screamed before charging after them. Kira peered over her shoulder and saw Elsa gaining ground very quickly.

"Shit, Naomi. I need you to run as fast as possible across the highway and into the woods. The house is there and you'll be safe." Kira whispered as they ran. Naomi looked at her.

"What about you!" She exclaimed. Kira shushed her.

"Don't worry, Elsa is after you, if I can stall her long enough, you'll be safe." Kira reassured her.

"I'm not leaving you." Naomi replied stubbornly. Kira sighed. _Leave it to Ethan to fall for the most stubborn girl on the planet. _She thought to herself. She groaned and grabbed Naomi's arm and ran as fast as she could—which was at a speed that could put the high school track team to shame--dragging Naomi behind her. Suddenly, Kira felt a hand enclose around her wrist. A sense of panic filled her at the possibility of it being one of Elsa's lackeys. All feelings of panic left her though as she saw a flash of brown hair next to her. _My knight in red and denim armor_. She thought to herself. Before she even finished that thought, they were deep in the woods. Conner stopped there and let them go. Naomi stumbled backwards.

"Whoa.." She muttered. Kira turned to her.

"You okay?" She asked. Naomi looked a little green as her eyes grew glassy.

"Uh uh." She said as she stumbled away from them. The sounds of Naomi vomiting filled the air.

"Guess she's not used to the McKnight red eye." Conner smirked. Kira smacked his arm lightly before going to see if Naomi was alright. Kira placed her hand on Naomi's shoulder and pulled her hair back slightly. After Naomi was finished being sick she turned and looked at Kira.

"How... did...you um?" She asked. Kira chuckled lightly.

"I got sick the first couple of times Conner did that to me too." She said. Naomi blew out a long sigh. Conner went over to them.

"Are you guys okay?" He asked. Kira tilted her head up to him and nodded.

"How'd you know where to find us?" She asked.

"Well, after you called, I figured I'd come to the beach and see if you guys would want a ride back to Dr. O's, when I got there, I saw Elsa grabbing you." He said, casting a look to Naomi. "Nice kick, by the way." He complimented. Naomi gave a short chuckle.

"Ethan taught me." She supplied. Conner smiled.

"He's a good teacher. Speaking of teachers, let's get back to Dr. Oliver's before anything else goes wrong." He commented before heading off through the forest. Naomi followed after him, Kira bringing up the rear. They were soon at Dr. Oliver's house. As per usual, the door was open and the three of them walked in, making there way to the lab.

"Hey, guys, look what we found." Conner announced as they walked down the stairs. Tommy and Hayley looked up, both sporting relieved expressions.

"Naomi, you're okay." Tommy stated.

"Yup." Naomi said. "I'd do the whole 'I'm fine' hug thing, but, well, I'm rather offensive to anyone with a sense of smell right now, excuse me." Naomi said as she made her way up the stairs. Tommy and Hayley gave Kira and Conner confused expressions.

"She kinda…puked in the woods." Kira said.

"Um... why?" Tommy offered to ask. Kira chuckled slightly.

"Conner used the 'McKnight Red Eye' and Naomi wasn't used to the speed, and got a little sick." She replied. The elders nodded, not quite understanding.

"I got pretty sick the first few times after he started using it." Kira explained further.

"Hey, it's not my fault you people can't handle speed." Conner said. Kira looked at him.

"I can handle you driving fast, but the super 'faster than the speed of light' speed, is a little different. You start and end so suddenly, it makes your stomach churn." She defended.

"I can't help it." Conner shrugged. "That'd be like me asking you 'hey, Kira, you know that super sonic scream? Mind keeping it to a dull roar?'." Kira rolled her eyes.

"I know you can't help, neither can I. Although you can cover your ears and not bitch about it. I'm defending Naomi here." She snapped.

"I'm not bitching." Conner replied, offended. "I can't believe you'd say I bitch."

"Hmm, would you prefer whining?"

"Uh….guys?" Tommy asked.

"I do NOT whine!" Conner said, ignoring their teacher.

"What would you call it then Conner? You bitch, moan and complain about everything! You're like a woman during PMS!"

"You must be mistaking me for yourself then all the time Kira." He shot back.

"Oh, so just because someone with a vagina is a little less than perky, it instantly means PMS?" She asked.

"Ye-"

"Conner, don't go there." Hayley said.

"Why not Hayley? It's true." He commented. Kira just stopped and looked at him.

"I'm done." She stated before brushing past him and heading out the cave entrance. Conner stopped and looked after her.

"Kira!" He called. She stopped, turned around and looked at him.

"What?" She snarled as she turned around. Conner looked at her.

"Don't expect me at your next gig. God only knows that I couldn't support an Avril wanna-be, who's music sucks." Kira's eyes went wide as they filled with tears.

"Screw you." She spat out as she ran out of the cave entrance. Tommy glared at Conner.

"What the heck was that all about?" He demanded. Conner blinked as if he had just caught wind of what happened.

"Oh, shit. Kira!" He yelled, running after her. Conner used his super speed to catch up with his fleeing girlfriend. He grabbed her wrist and spun her around, immediality noticing the tears streaming down her face. "Kira.." He began. Kira shoved him away.

"Let go of me." She cried before taking off again. Conner pushed himself up off the ground again and took off after her.

"Kira wait!" He called. He grabbed her wrist once more, and spun her around completely, grabbing her other wrist.

"Kira..." He tried again. Kira drew in a deep breath, and let out a ptera scream, directly into Conner's face. Conner's hand flew from Kira's wrists to cover his ears as he fell back onto the ground. Kira looked at him, still sobbing.

"I said leave me alone Jock boy. And I mean it." She screamed before taking off once more. Conner watched her leave.

"What happened?" Came a voice. He looked up to see Naomi standing at the cave entrance. She went over to him and helped him up to his feet. "I came back down and Dr. Oliver and Hayley said you guys were out here."

"I'm not really sure. But I'm pretty sure I just fucked up, royally." He said. Naomi nodded.

"Go after her." She commented. Conner looked at her like she'd grown three heads.

"Are you insane?" He questioned. Naomi shook her head no.

"No, as bad as you think you fucked up. Do it." She told him before walking away. Conner shook his head and looked in the direction that Kira had run. He was going after her.

Meanwhile, Kira had ended up back at the beach and was just walking around when a blast in the sand sent her flying towards the rocks. She landed hard in the cold sand and looked up at her attacker. She was expecting Elsa, but got a surprise.

"Zeltrax and Elsa... Two for one. Are you looking to have your asses handed to you tonight?" She growled. Elsa laughed.

"You're the one who is going to be defeated yellow ranger. What with the little fight you and your boyfriend had. No one will come save you now." She grinned evilly. Kira glared at them and stood up.

"That's what you think!" Kira flicked her wrist out and waited for her morpher to change. But it never did. She quickly glanced down at her wrist.

"Oh no... I must have dropped it somewhere." She whispered before looking at her attackers.

"You're finished." Zeltrax remarked before charging forward. Kira took a deep breath and let out a scream, knocking Zeltrax back.

"I don't know what's crawled up your collective asses and died recently, but I won't have a problem beating you two to a pulp." Kira said, getting into a fighting stance.

"Such big talk for a powerless ranger." Elsa sneered. "YAH!" She yelled, extending her sword. A green beam emitted from the tip and hit Kira in the stomach, knocking her down.

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Conner was walking where he saw Kira run off too, kicking the dirt with the tip of his shoe. He sighed as he got to the edge of the woods and was walking in the beach. He paused as he saw something yellow glinting in the moonlight inside the sand. He got closer and kneeled and was surprised to see it was Kira's gem. _I must've accidentally knocked it off her when I grabbed her arm earlier. _He thought to himself. He heard a weak cough in the distance and looked up. There was a coughing and shuddering mass on the sand. Conner's brows furrowed as he slowly got up. As he got closer, his heart stopped. The shuddering mass was Kira lying on the sand in a fetal position, looking like she had just ran through a war zone.

"Kira!" He exclaimed. He ran to her side and kneeled beside her, gently picking her up in his arms. "Kira." Kira couched again as blood spluttered out of her mouth.

"El…..sa……Zeltrax…….Didn't have my morpher." She whispered weakly. Conner's eyes clouded with tears as he held her close.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry." He whispered. Kira closed her eyes as she slipped out of consciousness. Conner slowly stood up and lifted her in his arms. Using his super speed, he ran back through the woods and to Tommy's house. He barged in through the front door. "Dr. O!" He bellowed, setting Kira down on the couch in the living room. Naomi, Tommy and Hayley all ran up from the lab.

"Oh my god, Kira." Naomi exclaimed, running over to the couch. Tommy heard the door upstairs open and grabbed Hayley's shoulder.

"Don't let Trini come down here." He pleaded. Hayley nodded and went upstairs to distract the little girl. He went over to the teens.

"What happened?" Naomi asked.

"I……….I don't know." Conner said. "I just found her like that on the beach." Tommy sighed and stopped when something caught his eye.

"What's that?" He asked.

"What?" Naomi asked. Tommy kneeled next to Kira and lifted up her closed hand which had something sticking out of it. He carefully pried her fingers open and out fell a folded up piece of paper. Conner reached down and picked it up, unfolding it.

"It's a note." He said.

"What does it say?" Tommy asked.

"'Give us the girl or much worse can be expected'." Conner read. Tommy's brows furrowed in confusion.

"What?" He took the note from Conner and read it. "……They want Trini." He whispered, fear gripping his heart. Naomi blinked and looked at them.

"No, they don't." She said. "They want me."

"You?" Conner asked. "Why?"

"Because Ethan pulled Mesogog into the chasm because of me." Naomi sighed.

"Yeah, but Trini's Mesogog's daughter." Conner replied. "I mean, with el jefe gone, they probably are thinking his heir would-"

"Elsa said it herself." Naomi interrupted. "When she grabbed me before, she said it was Ethan's fault the one she loved was gone, so it was going to be his fault that the one he loved would be gone."

"Elsa and Mesogog? Sick." Came a raspy voice from the couch. The others turned to see Kira peering at them with heavy lidded eyes. It took everything within Conner to keep himself from tackling Kira.

"Kira!" He exclaimed before sitting on the edge of the couch beside her. Kira groaned a bit as she tried to turn, feeling uncomfortable in the position she was in. Conner took it as a groan of displeasure of him being there and looked down, slowly getting up. Kira grabbed his wrist. Conner looked at her.

"Stay." She pleaded. Conner sat back down beside her. He looked at her. He leaned forward "I'm so sorry." He whispered and kissed her lips gently.

"Oww." Kira whined softly, before kissing him back. Conner couldn't help chuckle a bit.

"And you say I whine?" He joked.

"Shut up." Kira said. Conner smiled softly.

"I am so sorry Kira... you don't even know..." He trailed off. Kira looked at him and smiled sadly.

"I'm sorry too." She replied softly. Tommy figured the two teens would need some time alone. He tapped Naomi's shoulder gently. She looked up at him. He tilted his head towards the lab, silently telling her to come along and leave them alone. Naomi nodded, understanding. She gave Kira's hand a gently squeeze before following Tommy down to the lab. Conner watched them leave then looked back down at Kira.

"Do you need anything?" He asked. "Water? Painkillers?" Kira shook her head and winced slightly at the strain it caused. She sighed and closed her eyes.

"Just you." She whispered, taking his hand in one of hers and lacing her fingers with his.

"Well, how fortunate for you, since I don't plan on going anywhere." He said. He went to kiss her, but remembered the reaction he got before, and decided to kiss her forehead instead. Kira squeezed his hand.

"I'm so sorry for wigging out on you." She said.

"I'm sure I deserved it." Conner smiled.

"No, you didn't. It's me…I guess I've just been stressing."

"Yeah." Conner said, understanding.

"No, not just because of that, but……well, Harold's parole hearing is next week, and I don't think I can handle it." She said. Conner sighed. He had actually forgotten all about Kira's ex.

"Why didn't you say something earlier?" He asked. Kira sighed.

"Because compared to all the other stuff that's going on, it's trivial." She said. Conner sighed and nuzzled his nose against her hairline, inhaling the scent of her hair.

"Nothing about you is trivial." He whispered against her skin.

"Conner?" She asked.

"Hmm?" He replied, sitting up to look at her.

"You really don't think I'm an 'Avril-wannabe' and that my music sucks……right?" She asked, her eyes showing her fear and uncertainty. Conner ran his thumb across her hand.

"You're the most original person I know, and your music is the best thing to ever grace my ears." He said. Kira couldn't help laugh at how corny that sounded.

"Come 'ere, cornball." She said, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him forward, latching her lips to his. It hurt, but to her, it was almost like a good kind of ache.

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"I'm sorry I worried you guys." Naomi said. She and Tommy were in the lab. The room had been silent since the two had entered, Naomi's statement being the first words uttered in that moment. Tommy gazed at her.

"I'm sorry for sticking my nose in where it didn't belong." Was his response. Naomi smiled.

"Bygones?" She asked. Tommy nodded. He shifted his gaze to Trent, who had yet to wake up. Naomi watched Tommy as Kira's words from before floated about her head. Kira was right, Naomi had no right to think her pain was more severe than that of Tommy's, if anything, her pain was just a simple scrape on the knee compared to what he must've been going through, which could be like having his fingers and toes smashed my a hammer over and over again. _So I guess we've got two choices_, Naomi thought to herself. _We either continue being Bratty McBrat Brat, or suck it up and be at least somewhat useful._ "Why don't you go check on Trini?" Naomi suggested. "I'll watch him." She added, tilting her jaw towards Trent's prone form. Tommy gave her an appreciative look.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll just watch him for a little while longer." He said. "Why don't you go upstairs and see Kira and Conner?" He suggested. Naomi made a face.

"They're doing either one of two things—Fighting, or engaging in make-up s…." She paused when she realized that even though he was a friend, he was still her teacher, and she needed to maintain a modicum of decency "hea...m…………make-up chatting." She finally said. Tommy laughed.

"Smooth." He teased. Naomi made a face.

"Well, anyway, either way, I have no intention of playing referee or spectator to those two." Naomi said.

"Well how about playing chaperone, for my sake? I don't need two of my students doing any make-up 's……hea……m…….chatting' on my living room couch." Tommy kidded. Naomi laughed and made a mock salute.

"Yes sir, Captain No-Hankey-Pank, sir." She said as she got up and went up the stairs. Tommy chuckled and shook his head. Naomi walked upstairs and headed over to the living room. She covered her eyes and walked blinded into the living room. "Guys, please tell me I can uncover my eyes and I'm not gonna see any exposed body parts that shouldn't be exposed in Dr. Oliver's house." Conner and Kira, who had been in the middle of kissing broke apart and looked at her.

"Everything's completely PG, you can look." Kira said, amused. Naomi grinned and uncovered her eyes.

"Well, just wanted to be sure, you know, not walk on anything…….that shouldn't be walked in on." She said. Conner chuckled.

"Hanky-panky?" He questioned. Kira and Naomi blushed and Naomi shook her head furiously. "Besides, I'm sure you and Ethan did some stuff while being here all alone at night for three days." He teased. Kira gave him a look that screamed 'don't go there'. Naomi gave him a tight smile that hid the pang of sadness she got at the reminder of Ethan and sleeping next to him for those three nights.

"I can honestly say things were very PG on that couch." Naomi said. Conner nodded.

"And he believes you." Kira interjected before he could say anything stupid. Naomi looked at them both and shook her head.

"Come on Kira, we should get you home." Conner commented.

"And how exactly am I going to explain all this to my folks?" Kira said, meaning her cuts and bruises. "Unless you want them to get the wrong idea."

"Wrong idea?" Conner asked. Kira just gave him a look, and it dawned on him. If he took Kira home looking like that, her parents would think he was just like Harold. "Oh." He said.

"I'm sure Dr. Oliver wouldn't mind you staying here, I mean, it's not like his house hasn't already been 'Oliver's house for the teen avoiding home' already." Naomi said.

"I'll go ask him." Conner said. He gave Kira one last kiss on the forehead before heading downstairs. Naomi smiled at Kira. Kira pulled herself up, resting her back against the arm of the couch. Kira tilted her head telling Naomi to sit by her. Naomi sat at the food of the couch, by Kira's feet.

"So." Kira began, with a sigh. "About what happened on the beach, I didn't-"

"Don't apologize." Naomi said, cutting her off. "I deserved it."

"Still, I was being a little too harsh." Kira said.

"And I wasn't?" Naomi asked. Kira chewed on her lower lip and thought about it for a bit.

"Maybe a little." Kira said. Naomi laughed.

"Well I'm just glad we got it over and done with." Naomi said. Kira nodded.

"Makes two of us." She replied. Kira looked at her. "Can I ask you a question?" She asked.

"…That's a little redundant, isn't it?" Naomi joked. "You asked me a question by simply asking if you could.." Kira rolled her eyes.

"I'm serious." Kira said.

"Sure, go ahead." Naomi said.

"What's this thing with your parents? I mean, you've jumped around the subject but haven't really said much about it, so, what's the problem?" Kira asked. Naomi's eyes quickly shifted to the ground.

"You know what, I'm going to go see what's keeping your boyfriend." Naomi said, jumping to her feet.

"Naomi!" Kira called. But it was too late, Naomi was up and gone before Kira could do anything. Kira sighed. "Smooth, Ford." She muttered. A minute later, Conner came back.

"Hey." He said, occupying the space Naomi had recently vacated. "Good news, Dr. O said you could stay, and after some begging and assurance that we'd behave ourselves, he said I could stay to." He smirked. Kira laughed. "Although he did say that he, or, as he said 'one of his spies' will make random checks down here to make sure we're behaving."

"Well, Naomi's going to be here, so I think Dr. O can relax." Kira giggled.

"Oh right, I forgot about her." Conner said. Kira let out a soft yawn. Conner looked at her. "Tired?" He asked. Kira shrugged. "That's a yes." Conner laughed. "Come on, I'll pull the bed out." He said. He got up and gently helped Kira to her feet, moving her to the nearby armchair. Kira settled into the chair and watched as he worked on pulling the bed out. Kira smiled gently to herself as she watched him go get sheets from Tommy's linen closet for the bed. _He's absolutely nothing like Harold_ was the thought that floated through her head as she gently slipped into sleep as she sat there on the chair. Conner came back into the room carrying some sheets. He stopped when he saw Kira fast asleep on the armchair. Conner couldn't help smile at how beautiful she looked, aside from the cuts and bruises on her face, of course. Her dark blonde wavy hair looking like a bright halo in the light of the room. He went and set the sheets down on the bed and kneeled before her. He brushed his fingers against her forehead before kissing her cheek gently. Kira gave a soft sigh and settled deep into the chair. Conner smiled and got back up, picking the sheets up and making the bed. Once the bed was made he pulled back the corner of the covers to the side before turning back to his sleeping girlfriend. He carefully lifted her up in his arm, making sure not to jar her into wakefulness. He then placed her on the bed and pulled the covers over her. Kira settled into bed, turning to her side and holding onto the pillow beneath her head. Conner stroked her hair gently before leaving and going down to the lab.


	9. Questions

AN: Hey guys, here's the latest chapter for Barely Breathing. It's rather short, but we figured you guys waited long enough for an update. Anyway, before we go on, we'd like to thank each and every one of you who voted for our stories (individual and joint) in the Sky/Syd and PR Couples awards. You guys rock!

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Conner came down to see Tommy looking over at the monitor that was doing the dimensional scan for their missing friends and Naomi sat beside Trent. Conner took a seat beside her. Naomi, sensing his presence, sat back and took a breath.

"Is Kira all right?" She asked. Conner nodded.

"Yeah, she's sleeping." He replied. Conner cast a glance at Trent before returning it to Naomi. "Any idea why he was like that before?" He asked. Naomi looked at him.

"Why who was like what before?" She asked.

"Trent, why was he all clingy and everything with you?" Conner asked. Naomi shrugged.

"Hell if I know." She said. She chuckled. "Maybe in his warped monkey mind, he thought I was still his girlfriend."

"Yeah, about that, what was up with you and him hooking up anyway?" He asked. Naomi narrowed her eyes.

"You ask this more than three weeks after the fact?" She asked. Conner shrugged.

"It was always puzzling and I just never thought to ask before."

"What was so puzzling? Me being with him, or him being with me?" Naomi asked.

"Well, it was pretty obvious why he was with you. He thought you had some dirt on us." Conner let out without thinking. Naomi gave him an icy stare.

"Oh right, **that** isn't insulting in the least." She said. Conner paused.

"Wait, no, that's not what I meant." He said quickly. Naomi put her elbow on her lap and put her chin in her hand, fixating him with a stare that said 'I just can't wait to see how you're going to get yourself out of this'. "I mean, not to say that's the only thing you offer to a guy, I mean, you're pretty." He said. "I mean hey, when Eric first met you, he said you were a hottie." Conner pointed out. Naomi gave out a short scoff.

"Your gay twin brother said I was a hottie...No offense to Eric, lord knows I adore the guy, but that really doesn't count for much." Conner sighed, realizing he was just digging his grave deeper and deeper.

"Look, I just mean that Trent in his gem induced or non-gem induced evilness had a hidden agenda when he stepped up to you, that's all. Who's to say he didn't fall for you in the midst of everything." Conner shrugged. "I mean he did get all jealous and stuff about Ethan." Conner said. Naomi tilted her head to the side.

"Ethan told you about that?" She asked. Conner paused. _Were the rest of us not supposed to know about that stuff? _He wondered.

"Erm...No, of course not. Ethan never told me that Trent bruised your wrist up or anything." He said, he winced the moment the words left his mouth. Naomi shook her head and chuckled.

"Conner, don't ever step out on Kira and try to lie about it to her later, she'll catch you in a second, 'cause man, your lying sucks."

"Good to know, not that I ever plan on doing such." He pointed out. Naomi smiled.

"Good. Cause if you ever do, you'll have her to face, as well as me for breaking her heart." She finished. Conner gulped, remember what Kira and Naomi had done to the two guys who had hit on them in the park.

"I'll remember that." Conner said. Naomi caught the look of fear in his eyes and chuckled.

"Good." She said. She looked back at Trent. "What if the whole evil-ness wasn't just gem-induced?" She asked. "I mean, are we just going through all the trouble of restoring his brain just to send him trotting back to Elsa and Zeltrax?"

"Dr. O seems pretty sure that it was all because of the gem." Conner replied, although he himself wasn't too sure. "Who knows, he might be right. I mean he for some odd reason believed in me to be the Red Ranger, and I guess I haven't proved him wrong or anything." Conner shrugged.

"Yet." Naomi teased, giving him a grin to illuminate her jest. Conner rolled his eyes.

"You're so hilarious." He said dryly. He looked at her. "You never answered my question, about what was the deal with you and Trent?"

"I believe that's because you became a bit insulting." Naomi replied. She sighed and gave a shrug. "I don't know, I guess the idea that a guy wanted me was so cool. And he seemed nice. Granted, at the time I was in my 'Ethan lied to me, Ethan bad' mentality, so I would've dated any guy who looked my way."

"Poor Trent. He thought he was the only one doing the using but apparently you did a bit of that yourself. Not that that's necessarily bad."

"Hey, it kept him off yours and Kira's back…………….until he got psycho." Naomi pointed out. Conner nodded.

"Yeah. That psycho part was………………..well, psycho." Conner said. Naomi laughed. "Sorry, my brain's beginning to shut down. It's not functioning."

"Oh, okay. So what's your excuse for when it's not functioning the rest of the time?" Naomi asked, playfully elbowing him in the side. Conner rolled his eyes.

"I actually saw that one coming. You're losing your touch." He said. Naomi laughed again.

"Anyway, why don't you go upstairs and join your sweetie in bed? You're obviously tired."

"Aren't you?" Conner asked, ready to let Naomi sleep in the bed with Kira. Naomi shrugged and shook her head.

"Not really. I think my body's rationing out my energy so I don't need too much sleep theses days." She paused. "Plus, I like being awake more. I don't have to worry about nightmares." She added quietly. Conner let that settle into the ether as he tried to come up with something to say. He couldn't.

"Oh." Was all he said. "Well, good night, I guess." He said. He stood up and gave her shoulder a squeeze before departing up the stairs. Naomi turned back to where Tommy was staring at the computer screens. She carefully stood up and walked over to him, standing behind his chair. She leaned forward to look at the screen as well, not that she understood what she was looking at. But from Tommy's pensive expression and his lack of hoop and hollering, she deducted it was much of the same—nothing. She cleared her throat, causing Tommy to turn his head to the side, gazing at her from the corner of his eye.

"You should go to bed too." She said.

"I'm fine." He insisted. "Anyway, someone needs to stay here and keep an eye on Trent and everything."

"I'll do it." She said.

"You don't know how the dimensional scan works." He pointed out. Naomi sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"How about I run up and get you or Hayley the second there's any change?" She said. Tommy gave a longing look to the screen. "Dr. Oliver, you need your rest." She insisted. "You've got Trini to take care of." Tommy blinked as he remembered that he did still have Trini. He sighed and placed a hand on Naomi's that was on his shoulder.

"You're right." He said, admitting defeat. He stood up, causing Naomi to take her hand off his shoulder and step back. Tommy looked towards Trent. "Are you sure yo-" He began.

"Yes, I'm sure." Naomi said, cutting him off. Tommy looked at her.

"It might not be too safe." He said, for the first time suggesting that Trent could be evil even without the gem's influence.

"He's strapped down." Naomi reminded him. "Besides, I can hold my own………And if that fails, I can scream really loud." She said with a smirk. Tommy gave her a look as if to say 'that's not funny' and began to reconsider the idea of leaving her all alone. "I'm kidding!" Naomi said, seeing he was having doubts. "I'll be fine, really. Go, sleep, now." She ordered. Tommy nodded.

"Fine. But I'll be upstairs if you need me."

"I know."

"And Conner and Kira-"

"Dr. Oliver!" Naomi exclaimed. "Everything's going to be fine." Tommy sighed and nodded. He patted her shoulder before leaving the room. Naomi gave a loud sigh as she aimlessly walked about the room, swinging her arms. She cast a look at the computer screen before turning back to Trent. She slowly walked back to the chair by where Trent lay and sat down, keeping her eyes on her former boyfriend.


	10. Waiting and Promises

Author Note from "Z": Hey guys, well "Syd" and I are back! Woo! Anyway, sorry for the lack of updates. We've both been buys with life and other fics. Still love us? Of course ya do!

Anyway, before we get to the fic-y goodness, we'd just like to thank whoever it was that nominated Twisted Emotions for the Hope For The World fiction awards (Ethan/Naomi for Best OC/Ranger Romance and Naomi for Best Original Character). It's your love for our stuff that keeps us writing. We love ya!

Okay, on with the story!

-

Hours passed as Naomi continued to stare at Trent. In the silence, her mind began to wander back to the beginning. The surreal aspect of the whole situation crashed down on her and she found herself having to blink and look around the lab, making sure she was really here and this wasn't some dream that had been going on for the past several weeks. She couldn't even remember how she got from being a former boarding school little shy thing to the person she was now. A part of her told her that that wasn't entirely true. She could remember. It was Ethan. He changed her. Well, Ethan and the events surrounding them all, but mostly it was Ethan. Naomi sighed as Ethan's face became clear in her mind. She prayed that wherever he and Kimberly where, they were safe. She hoped they were together and weren't all alone in whatever place they were in. She prayed that Hayley and Tommy would be able to find them soon. Naomi sighed again as her eyelids began to feel heavy. She closed her eyes for a second and opened them, staring at the med table where Trent lay. Naomi dawned a perplexed expression on her face when she saw that the table was empty, the straps strewn on the table.

"What…" she began. Her voice cut off into a strangled gurgle as she felt something tight enclose around her neck. Naomi gasped and tried to scream as she felt herself being pulled out of the chair, her back slamming into the nearest wall. Naomi's eyes widened and she began clawing at the thing around the neck. She felt flesh, nails, and fingers. Naomi peered ahead of her and saw Trent's cold eyes boring into her own as his grip on her neck tightened. _Scream!_ She told herself. She clawed at his hand some more as she tried to get a lung full of air. _Conner! Kira! Dr. Oliver…….someone!_ Her mind screamed, but her mouth wouldn't make a sound.

Naomi awoke with a gasp, doubling over in the chair and coughing. She touched her neck, relieved to only feel her own skin. She sat up and looked at the med table. There was Trent, still unconscious and still strapped down. _I must've fallen asleep_, she thought to herself. Naomi sat back in the chair, forcing her heart rate to slow down. A few more hours passed. She could see the first few rays of sunlight peaking through the cave entrance and lighting up the entryway. Naomi sighed and stretched a little bit in her chair, her muscles all but jumped with glee with the movement. She heard slight movement coming from the table and a soft sigh. She looked back over at it and saw Trent staring at her with open eyes. For a few moments, they said nothing and just stared at each other. Finally, Naomi took in a small breath and spoke.

"Hi," she said, forgetting for a moment that Trent might not be able to speak. Trent simply stared at her. Naomi sighed and bit her lip. "Shit, it didn't work," she said. She put her head down and covered her face with her hand. She had hoped that this would've worked and Trent would awake telling them exactly where to find Kimberly and Ethan…….Or even if he hadn't, she would've taken him being evil or something……at least they wouldn't have to wait anymore and focus on finding the others. She let out small whimpering sobs as her heart was filled with hopelessness.

"What didn't work?" She heard. Naomi sat up quickly and saw Trent staring at her with questioning eyes.

"What?" She asked, wiping at the few tears that had escaped.

"What….." He paused. He stared up at the ceiling. "Holy shit, I can talk…" It had been over three weeks since the gem took full control and he had been reverted into that beast, with that, he felt like he was trapped in his own mind. He could think…….to some extent, but nothing other than grunts and growls came out of his mouth. He had seen Naomi and his mind asked what she was talking about, the words forming like second nature.

"It did work," Naomi breathed out. She put her head in her hands again, this time relieved. Trent tried to get up, but saw that he couldn't move.

"Could you get rid of these?" He asked. Naomi looked at him. Her expression changed from relived to unsure as she simply sat there and stared at him. "Naomi, get these off of me," he said after seeing she wasn't moving. Naomi stood up. There was a chance that unstrapping him would result in what happened in her nightmare. She wasn't ready to take that chance.

"No," she said. Trent's brows furrowed.

"No?" he asked. "What do you mean no?" He strained against the straps; hoping excessive force would somehow break them.

"I don't know what you're going to do! Jesus, you could attack me, for all I know, you could try and kill me!" She cried. Trent grunted as he struggled against the straps.

"I'm not!"

"Right, like I'm going to believe that," she said. Trent snarled as he managed to grab her wrist with his strapped down hand.

"Get me out of here, now!" _Well, that answers the evil or no evil question,_ Naomi thought. She stood up, her chair falling backwards behind her as she struggled to get out of his grasp. She finally just grabbed his hand with her free hand, lowered her head and bit down as hard as she could. Trent released her as he let out a pained grunt. Naomi turned and went to run up the stairs. "Naomi," Trent gasped out, causing Naomi to stop. There was something different about his tone. It wasn't angry or violent….it was now scared and desperate. "Please, I……I don't know what's going on……..Just……" Naomi slowly turned back around. He was lying there, staring at her pleadingly. _It's a trick, he's faking! Go upstairs, now!_ She told herself, but she just stood there.

"Bit of a turn around, isn't that?" She asked, crossing her arms. "Big scary man barking orders to scared little puppy in five seconds? I think that's a record."

"Please, Naomi……I don't understand what's going on……I just………."

"Where are they?" She asked, cutting him off.

"They? They who?"

"Ethan and Dr. Hart, where are they?"

"I……What do you mean? I don't.." His voice trailed off. Naomi descended the few stairs she had climbed and went over to him, careful to stand by his head so he wouldn't grab her again.

"You know, now tell me."

"I don't……I swear…."

"YOU'RE LYING!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. Trent's eyes opened widely. Naomi stared down at him. "They're gone, and it's all your fault," she whispered icily. Trent shook his head frantically.

"No, no, Naomi I…" he trailed off. "I remember,"

"You remember?" Naomi questioned, unconvinced.

"It's………Everything's just one big……..haze right now…..but I……..I remember…….I don't know where they are, I swear. Please, let me go," he pleaded; Naomi could see the fear and confusion in his eyes that were beginning to glisten.

"Wow, tears," she said coldly. "You're either telling the truth or one amazing actor."

"Naomi, what's going on?" Naomi spun around to see Conner and Tommy standing by the stairs. "We heard screaming, are you okay?" Tommy asked.

"He's awake," she simply said before squeezing past the two men and leaving the room. Conner and Tommy looked at the frightened boy as Naomi clamored up the stairs.

"Good, maybe we can get some answers out of him," Tommy said. Conner simply glared at him.

"Yeah, first question---mind explaining all the screaming and yelling?" Conner demanded. Trent just stared back at them, which only seemed to enrage the boy in red. "Either you answer or I'll make you answer," he threatened, taking a few steps towards him. Trent struggled to sit up.

"Well if you'd let me move around like a free human being, maybe I would." He snapped at Conner. Conner blinked and looked at Tommy, who just shrugged.

"No, we'd prefer to keep you as you are right now. You tell us what we need to know, and then we'll unhook you." Conner replied. Trent struggled some more before giving up and lying back.

"Where am I?" He asked.

"Our questions first, Trent." Tommy said. Trent closed his eyes.

"I don't know," he whispered. "I don't know what's going on here; I don't know what you want to know!" He yelled. Tommy looked at Conner and then at Trent.

"So you're saying that you don't know where Kimberly and Ethan are? That you don't remember what happened?" He asked. Trent shook his head and flopped backwards onto the table.

"No.. I don't know anything." He whispered. "I…………Everything's jumbled up in my head…….I can't………I can't remember anything……..It's like there's a fog in my brain." Trent said helplessly.

"What's the last thing you remember, before the fog?" Tommy asked. Trent closed his eyes and thought for a second.

"My dad," he said. "He….He told me the gem was going to do something to my head….I…….Everything else is just…"

"Jumbled, foggy, we get it," Conner snapped.

"Do you know what happened to you after that?" Tommy asked.

"I………I remember……..doing stuff………but……..I was like a big ape or something……I didn't know what I was doing……I couldn't talk…….nothing made sense…." Trent said, straining to remember. Conner and Tommy looked at each other.

"Let him go Conner. There's not much we can do." Tommy replied. Conner looked at him.

"Hell no. This freak tried to kill my girlfriend, and nearly killed me. He attacked Naomi and is the reason that Dr. Hart and Ethan aren't here!" Conner replied, anger filling his voice.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for everything," Trent said.

"Shut up!" Conner yelled. He looked at Tommy. "How do we know this isn't some act? Huh? I bet he knows exactly where they are. We let him go and he's just going to run back to Elsa and Zeltrax,"

"Why would I?" Trent exclaimed. "They did this to me; they made me do all those things!" Conner turned to him.

"Conner," Tommy tried to grab Conner's arm but he simply swatted his hand away as he stalked up to Trent.

"I bet you liked it, too huh?" He said, bending down close to Trent's face. Trent shook his head.

"No," he said.

"Being evil, being powerful, you loved it, didn't you!"

"Conner, stop it," Tommy ordered.

"I didn't!" Trent bellowed. Conner raised his hands to Trent's neck and squeezed tightly. Trent gasped.

"Conner!" Tommy exclaimed.

"You remember choking Kira, don't you?" Conner said lowly, his grip tightening. Trent's eyes began to bulge. "And Naomi, and Hayley? You remember all that, don't you?"

"Yes.." Trent choked out.

"Well how does it feel, huh?" Conner yelled in Trent's face.

"Conner!" Tommy grabbed Conner's shoulders and pulled him away. Trent coughed and gasped as he felt Conner's hands leave his throat. Tommy pushed Conner towards the stairs. "Go upstairs," he demanded.

"What?" Conner said.

"Go upstairs, now!" Tommy ordered. Conner glared at him and left. Tommy turned back to Trent and went over to him. "Are you okay?" Trent nodded between coughs. Tommy went about unstrapping him from the table. As soon as he was free, Trent quickly sat up. The movement made Tommy step back out of instinct. Trent looked at his science teacher.

"Can I go?" He asked.

-

Upstairs, Naomi was standing by the stairway entrance where she had been the entire time since she left. She saw Conner stomping up the stairs.

"Are you okay?" She asked. Conner nodded.

"Fine and dandy," he muttered.

"What's going to happen with him?" Naomi asked.

"Dr. O's going to send him off his merry little way," Conner said bitterly. "I don't trust him."

"Neither do I," Naomi said. Conner opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by Trent and Tommy coming up the stairs. Conner stepped aside.

"Going home, I see," Conner remarked. Trent looked at Conner, then over at Naomi. His gaze lingered on her far much longer than Naomi or Conner liked. Conner stepped in front of Naomi, challenging Trent to even try to push him away. Tommy took Trent by the shoulders and led him towards the kitchen.

"Come on, lets get you something to eat," he said to him. The two left. Conner groaned.

"I cannot believe Dr. O is being like this. Its like he doesn't care about.." Conner's voice trailed off.

"Of course he cares," Naomi said. Conner turned to her. "He probably thinks that once Trent's head isn't a jumbled mess anymore we'll get some answers."

"That is, if Trent's even telling the truth," Conner pointed out. Naomi crossed her arms over her chest and stared off to the door, deep in thought.

"Right," she finally said. "Someone should probably keep an eye on him, ya know, make sure he's not plotting or anything," Conner looked at her. He knew exactly what she was getting at.

"No, no way," he said. Naomi looked up at him. "You're not doing it,"

"Conner, who else is going to do it? You? Look, out of all of us, the only ones who are possibly the least threatening are Trini and myself. Now, we're not going to let a seven year old come near him, are we?"

"Maybe he needs to feel a little threatened," Conner muttered.

"Not if he's going to think we believe him," Naomi pointed out. She bit her lip. "Besides, I have a feeling I might have a better chance at making him think whatever we want him to think,"

"………Is this some girl seduction thing? Cause……as Ethan's best friend, I'm going to have to say a resounding no to that plan," Conner said. Naomi scoffed and shook her head.

"Trust me, I wouldn't seduce the guy even if he had the cure for cancer and you were smoking two cartons of cigarettes a day," Naomi said, shuddering a bit at the thought. "But, back when he was crazy monkey boy, he kept turning to me. When you guys tried to strap him down and he got scared, he grabbed onto me, he calmed down when I was around," she concluded.

"So?"

"So, obviously deep down he thinks I'm safe. For whatever reason it may be, I've got the most pull on this guy, you saw the way he looked at me."

"I don't like it. What if we're right and this is just an act? He'll hurt you,"

"I can handle myself," Naomi said.

"I have no doubt you can throw a mean right hook," Conner stated recalling what happened with Rob that time in the park. "But this is different, and you know it." Naomi sighed and lowered her arms. "Naomi, promise me you won't do anything stupid," he said. Naomi was silent. "Naomi, promise me."

"Fine, I promise."

"You'll stay away from him, right? I know we fight like hell but that doesn't mean I don't care about you. I don't want you getting hurt." Naomi nodded and gave him a smile.

"I'll stay away," she promised. Conner smiled and nodded.

"Good. I'm going to go check on Kira," he said. Naomi nodded and watched him leave. She looked down where her hand was resting on the back of her hip, her middle finger crossed over her index finger.

"Sorry, Conner." She said lowly.


	11. Partners

Author's note from "Z": Hey guys. Sorry for the long wait. For those who didn't see the note I put in one of my own fics, "Syd" and I had the chapter written out when a bad thunderstorm hit where I live and shorted out my computer……which had the chapter document in it………We had written a lot and didn't feel like rewriting it so we figured we'd wait until I could retrieve my documents. I have no idea when that's going to be, and I figured you guys have waited long enough. "Syd" and I are just going to have to incorporate what we wrote in a later chapter or something.

----

Tommy ended up making Trent some eggs. He figured the young man had gone a while without a proper meal and just giving him a bowl of cereal could border on cruelty. Tommy figured Trent probably wouldn't be the only one who was hungry and made enough for everyone. After a while he put a plate of eggs and sausage in front of the boy and Trent's face lit up as he eagerly ate what was in front of him. Tommy sat down at the kitchen table beside him, staring at Trent as he ate. He looked up as he saw Conner exit the study and go straight to the living room. He sighed.

"Hey," came a voice. Trent and Tommy looked at the doorway to the kitchen and saw Naomi standing there. She lightly sniffed the air. "Mmmm, something smells good,"

"Breakfast, want some?" Tommy asked as he went to go get her a plate of food.

"I was just about to go check on Trini, in case the screaming freaked her out or anything," Naomi replied.

"I'll check on her, you eat," Tommy said. Naomi cast a quick look at Trent before looking at Tommy and giving him a smile.

"All right, then," she said. Tommy went to pass her as he exited the kitchen. As he was about to exit, he quickly grabbed her arm, making sure Trent, who had gone back to eating, didn't notice. "Conner's right there in the other room…in case…" he whispered to her. Naomi cast him a glance.

"You don't trust him," she asked, although it came out more as a statement. Tommy shook his head.

"Not that, but you can never be too careful," he said. He released her and left the room. Naomi watched as he went up the stairs to Trini's room.

"Everything all right?" She heard Trent asked. Naomi looked at him and put on a force smile.

"Uh huh," she said. She grabbed a plate from one of the kitchen cabinets and served herself some eggs and sausage. She joined Trent at the table, careful to sit across from him. _If the psycho does try anything, he's gonna have to reach…..gives me enough time to sic Conner on him if I have to,_ she thought to herself. Naomi carefully poked at her food with her fork, staring at the guy before her. He seemed normal……albeit a little confused, but he seemed normal before too. Trent caught her staring at her and brought his eyes up from his plate.

"What?" He asked. Naomi blinked and quickly averted her eyes.

"Huh? Nothing……just……..surprised," she said. "Uh, I mean, just a little surprised it worked…..you know, the whole…….restoring your mind thing that Hayley did," Naomi said.

"Oh," Trent said. He looked down at his plate and continued eating. Naomi looked down at her own plate and ate a bit. "I'm sorry," he said, causing Naomi to look at him. "For grabbing you like that before….I'm sorry," he said. Naomi shook her head.

"No big deal, you were scared, I get that," she said. She continued eating.

"And I'm sorry about the other stuff too," he said. Naomi looked at him.

"What other stuff?" She asked.

"You know…….the stuff I did to you………choking you…….kidnapping you…..all of that," he paused. "I know that's not going to make it better but……I just thought I'd tell you that I'm sorry," he said. Naomi looked down. "I just want you to know that I wouldn't hurt you," he said. Naomi's head snapped up towards him. She couldn't help it as a scoff escaped her lips.

"Trying old tricks, huh?" She asked. Trent narrowed his eyes in confusion. "I'm sorry, just experiencing a bit of deja-vu here. This whole assurance this is pretty much what you did to try and get me to trust you the last time, and we both know how that turned out," she said.

"I……." Trent began. "That wasn't me, it was the gem. I'd never-" he began. Naomi looked down. _Damn,_ she thought to herself. _Calling him out on his bull isn't going to make him think I trust him. This isn't part of the plan._ She took a deep breath and gave Trent a smile.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have said that. I think sleep deprivation is making me a little crabby," she lied. Trent nodded.

"Are we okay?" He asked. Naomi filled her mouth with some egg to keep herself from blurting out something like before. _Not even close, buddy. _

"I don't know," she finally said after she swallowed her food. She knew that if she seemed to trust him too quickly, it could seem suspicious. Trent nodded.

"I understand," he said. He reached across the table and took hold of Naomi's hand. Naomi flinched and tried to pull away. She was almost ready to call for Conner but stopped when she saw Trent looking at her gently. "I hope we can get past this and be friends," he said.

"Excuse me?" She blurted out. _Shut up, shut up you idiot. _Trent chuckled slightly.

"I know that sounds outrageous….I just……well……I owe you," he said.

"What do you mean?" Naomi asked.

"You saved me," he replied. Naomi's brows furrowed in confusion.

"_Saved you?_" She asked. "I don't understand."

"The gem," he explained. "You saved me from the gem," he said. Naomi blinked as she thought back.

"When I hit you," she muttered. She understood now. She hit Trent with the wood plank to get him away from Ethan. She must've done something to the gem when he put his arms up to protect himself. _That burst of light that hit us……….It makes sense now_.

"I don't remember much……everything's pretty foggy and unclear, but I just…….I know you saved me," he said. Naomi flinched again.

"Can you stop saying that?" She asked.

"I'm sorry," Trent said.

"Was that why you grabbed me like that the other day?" Naomi asked. Now it was Trent's turn to be confused.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"When the others tried to strap you down…..you grabbed onto me….."

"I don't remember, sorry," he said. Naomi looked at him. The two looked at each other.

"What the hell is going on here?" Demanded a voice, breaking Trent and Naomi out of their reverie. They looked over to see Conner standing at the entrance of the kitchen, glaring at Trent. "Get your hands off her," Conner growled.

"Conner," Naomi said as she stood up quickly.

"Dr. O might think you're some nice guy but I don't," Conner said, glaring at Trent. "I ever see you even looking at her again; I'll crush you, understood?"

"Conner, stop," Naomi said. She grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the kitchen. The two of them made their way through the living room, where Naomi saw that Kira was still sleeping peacefully. Naomi opened the front door to the house and shoved Conner outside before joining him and shutting the door behind her. "Calm down," she said. Conner glared at her.

"What was that I just saw?" He demanded. "You were just sitting there, letting him touch you,"

"It's nothing," Naomi said.

"Didn't look like nothing," he said.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Naomi demanded. "Save the jealous boyfriend routine for Kira, jeez,"

"What do you expect me to say? I walk in and see my best friend's girlfriend getting cozy with another guy and you think I'm just going to be all smiles about it?"

"We were **not** getting cozy!" Naomi hissed. "I told you, I'm going to keep an eye on him. Make him think I trust him."

"No, no, you told me…..promised me in fact, that you wouldn't do anything," Conner said. Naomi opened her mouth to reply but Conner knew very well what was going on. He spun away from her in frustration and walked to the porch steps, holding onto the railing. "You lied to me," he said. Naomi sighed and walked over to him. She leaned her hip against the railing of the porch as she stood sideways next to him. She crossed her arms over her chest as Conner kept his eyes down on his hands.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"You're still going to do it, aren't you?" Conner asked. Naomi nodded.

"He knows something about Ethan and Dr. Hart, I just know it," she said. Conner cast a look over to her.

"Are you sure this is about Ethan and Dr. Hart?" He asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naomi asked.

"You know what it means, Naomi," Conner said, looking off into the distance.

"What, you think I have feelings for him?" Naomi asked.

"Don't you? You looked pretty comfortable when he was holding your hand from where I was standing," Conner said.

"I guess you were standing at a bad angle," Naomi snapped. "Trent sickens me," Naomi said sternly.

"Whatever you say, Naomi," Conner said. "It just looks like you're feeling kind of lonely since Ethan's missing. So you probably figured your psycho ex is better than nothing." Naomi's eyes widened. She grabbed Conner's shoulder and shoved him against the edge of the porch.

"You pig," she snarled angrily. "How dare you say that to me? I love Ethan, got that? Trent is nothing but a pathetic spec of dirt to me." She gave him one last shove before turning away from him. Conner carefully looked at her. He saw her wipe at her face.

"I'm sorry," he said. He walked over to her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder, making her turn around. He suddenly felt like the biggest jerk on the planet when he saw the tears in her eyes. He sighed and looked down. "So, you really love Ethan, huh?" He asked. Naomi crossed her arms over her chest again and nodded.

"Yeah," she said. Her chin trembled as sobs tried to break free. "Never told him……never told myself…..just………." She sighed and sat down on the porch steps, Conner sat beside her. "I knew I felt something for Ethan. Something more than 'well, he's cute and nice, guess I'll date him'. Just didn't know what it was. It took him being gone to finally make sense of things, how sick is that?" She asked. Conner sighed and put an arm around her shoulders.

"It's not sick," he said. "Maybe you just didn't fully understand what everything you were feeling meant before. Ethan was around. You guys were together all the time so you didn't have to worry too much about making sense of your feelings. But now that he's not here you understand them better," he said. Naomi sighed and rested her head on Conner's shoulder.

"I want him back, Conner," Naomi said. "I need him back. I need him, more than anything," she said.

"We'll get him back," Conner promised. Naomi wiped at her eyes.

"We better get back inside," she said. She stood up, as did he. Naomi went to go back into the house before Conner took hold of her arm and made her stop.

"I'm sorry, about what I said before," he said. "I guess all this stress and stuff is turning me into a jerk," he said. Naomi smiled.

"It's okay," she said.

"I'm still not too keen about you being around Trent," Conner added. He sighed. "But you're right. Someone needs to keep an eye on him, and you seem like a likely candidate. He's more likely to believe you…I don't know why,"

"He wants us to be friends," Naomi said. Conner snorted and rolled his eyes. "He says I saved him,"

"What do you mean?" Conner asked.

"I'm the one who knocked the gem out of his bracelet, so to him, it's like I saved him from the gem. But believe me, that was the furthest thing from my mind," Naomi said. She looked down. "He was going to hurt Ethan. All I cared about was Ethan. I would've been perfectly fine with bashing Trent's face in, as long as it got him away from Ethan. And now Trent thinks I'm some sort of savior," she shook her head and the sheer insanity of it all.

"Do you believe him?" Conner asked.

"I don't know. If he's lying, than its obvious he wants me to believe him. He wants me to trust him."

"Maybe that's even more of a reason to stay away," Conner reasoned.

"No," Naomi said. "I'll play along, for now." She said. "Let him think what we want him to think." Conner sighed.

"There's no talking you out of this, is there?" He asked. Naomi smiled slightly and shook her head. "Fine," Conner said. "But I don't want to be kept in the dark," he said. "You tell me everything that goes on if you're ever alone with him and the second he does anything even remotely suspicious I'm pulling the plug on the whole operation. All right?" He said with such authority that Naomi knew she had to agree.

"Wouldn't have it any other way, partner," she said, teasing him slightly. Conner smiled.

"All right then," he said, satisfied in knowing he was in charge. "Let's get back inside," he said. Naomi nodded as the two entered the house.


	12. All Alone

Authors' Note: Hey guys, sorry for the wait. Enjoy the new chappy!

-----

Conner and Naomi walked back into the house and saw everything was as they left it. Kira was still asleep on the sofa bed, and they could hear Trent in the kitchen. They looked up at the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and saw Hayley coming down the stairs, stretching slightly.

"Hey," she said with a yawn.

"Hey," Conner and Naomi responded.

"How was Trent watch last night?" Hayley asked Naomi.

"He's awake," Naomi said. Hayley's brows furrowed.

"Awake?" She asked, surprised. "Is he okay?"

"Oh yeah, he's perfect," Conner said. "Monkey boy is having himself a nice hearty breakfast in Dr. O's kitchen."

"I see," was all Hayley said. "I better go check on him," she said. The two teens nodded. She entered the kitchen and sure enough, there was Trent, cutting a piece of sausage with the side of his fork before plopping it in his mouth. "Hey," she said. Trent looked up at her. Trent smiled.

"Hey Hayley... How are you?" He asked, genuine concern for his elder and the co-creator of the dino morphers. Hayley blinked and slowly drew in a breath.

"I'm alright Trent, how are you?" She prodded. Trent smiled.

"Not bad... Not bad at all," came the soft reply. He slowly turned back around and dug into his food heartily. He stared down at his eggs and gave a cold rueful chuckle. "Just woke up strapped down to some table in a lab where I was yelled at and nearly strangled," he muttered. Hayley sighed and cast a look at the living room, having no doubt that Conner had done the strangling. "I've got missing chunks in my memory for the last two weeks and the stuff I do remember is just…….at best……random flashes that don't even make a lot of sense. And the stuff I do remember from before that……..I wish I could forget," he said. He looked up at Hayley. "But other than that, I'm fine," he said. Hayley sighed.

"We'll try to figure something out Trent...I promise," Hayley replied, before slowly turning and heading down the steps into the Dino Lair. She walked across the room to where Tommy was seated and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey." Tommy looked over at her and nodded in response, giving his friend a smile. "How you doing?" She asked.

"I don't know," Tommy said. "Came down here with Conner to find Trent wide away and lucid, with Naomi looking like she was about to rip him to shreds…….then have to practically pull Conner off of him. I don't know…..Hayl, part of me actually stopped."

"Stopped? What do you mean?" She asked.

"When Conner was attacking Trent…….I hesitated." He leaned back and looked directly at his friend. "A small part of me wouldn't have been too upset if Conner had….." Tommy sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. Hayley gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"It's understandable," she said. "With all that's happened……But, you didn't let that small part win out. And that's what matters," she said. Tommy sighed and leaned his head to the side, resting his cheek against the hand on his shoulder. "Have you checked on Trini?" She asked. She felt him nod against her hand.

"After I made breakfast. She's still sleeping peacefully. Figured I'd come down here and see how the dimensional scans were going……..I don't know, I feel like I should be doing something," he said. Hayley pulled her hand off his shoulder and swiveled the chair so he was facing her. She kneeled before him.

"Go to the hospital," she said.

"What?" He asked.

"Go to the hospital, see Jason," she said. Tommy winced.

"Oh god, Jason………I actually…….nearly forgot all about him," he said, leaning back in the chair.

"You should go see him," Hayley said. "You said Kimberly would stop by and talk to him nearly every day, right?" Tommy nodded. "Well, no one's gone by for a few days, I'd imagine, so you should go see him."

"Hayley, I had trouble saying stuff back when things were…..better, how can I go now?"

"So don't say anything. Just sit there with him. Be there for Jason. Maybe the fact that you're doing something, maybe even helping someone, I don't know, maybe that'll help you," she theorized. Tommy sighed. He knew that Hayley was right. Nodding slightly he stood up.

"Alright, I'll go... Call me if anything changes," he told her lightly before leaving the room. He walked up the stairs and through the kitchen, where he found Trent sitting at the table, an empty plate in front of him, staring off into the distance. He paused for a moment as he considered saying something to the young man. But then realized he couldn't think of anything, so simply continued on his way. He passed through the living room where he saw Conner sitting on the edge of the sofa bed where Kira was still sleeping and Naomi sitting in the arm chair.

"Hey, Dr. O," Conner said. Tommy nodded briefly and made his way to the stairs to change. He stopped.

"Naomi," he said.

"Hmm?" The girl asked from her seat.

"Would you mind keeping an eye on Trini? I've got to…uh; go out for a little while……"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Naomi said. He went to walk up the stairs then stopped again and turned back to her. "Anything else?" Naomi asked. Tommy paused, as if he was unsure about what he was about to request. He cast a wary glance towards the kitchen before looking at the young girl and speaking in a lower voice.

"Do you think you could take her out? Like to the park or anything? She's been cooped up here for too long….and I just……."

"Don't want her around Trent?" Naomi concluded. Tommy gave her a stern look to say 'keep your voice down'. "Oh, sorry," Naomi whispered.

"It's not that," Tommy said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Trent scared her pretty badly the other day, I just don't want her to be….you know,"

"Oh, right, yeah," Naomi said, understanding that Trini wasn't exactly going to understand that the Trent she'd see wouldn't be the same Trent from the other day. "Say no more, I got it," she said.

"Thanks," he said before climbing up the stairs. Naomi looked at Conner.

"Do you and Kira want to come with? When she wakes up, I mean," she asked.

"And leave Hayley alone here with Monkey Boy?" Conner asked. "Yeah, how about no?"

"You know, you'd think that nickname would be funny and never get tedious," Naomi said lightly, giving Conner a half smile.

"Sorry," Conner shrugged. "Besides, Kira got pretty beat up last night. I think it'd be best if she just took it easy today." Naomi nodded.

"Okay," she said.

"Monkey boy? That's clever," said a voice. Naomi and Conner looked over to see Trent standing at the doorway separating the kitchen and living room. Conner's eyes narrowed.

"What do you want?" He barked.

"Nothing," Trent shrugged. "Just figured I'd say bye before heading out."

"Heading out? Where?" Naomi asked.

"Home," Trent replied. Naomi's eyes fell on Conner as both thought the same thing: _He's going to go trotting back to Elsa and Zeltrax_.

"Uh….you can't," Naomi blurted out, looking at him.

"What?" Trent asked.

"Well……." Naomi began, unsure what to say. "Elsa and Zeltrax," she said. She felt Conner swat her leg and she merely slapped his hand, her eyes still on Trent. "They're still out there………..and………..what if they try and do……..ya know………make you evil again…………Maybe it'd be best if you stayed here………ya know………….safe and all that………" She said.

Trent snorted.

"Please. I'm sure I can hold my own against them. But thanks for the moral support." He snapped before heading towards the door.

"Wait," Naomi said quickly. Trent stopped.

"What?" He snapped. Naomi stood up and walked over to him.

"You said you wanted to be friends, right?" She asked. Trent's annoyed expression faded slightly, but not completely.

"Yeah, so?" He asked. He looked at Conner, who was giving him a not so friendly stare. "What I want and what is actually going to happen are two different things," he muttered. _No shit Sherlock, _Naomi thought to herself. _We all want Ethan and Dr. Hart to walk right though that door this second and tell us they're all right, but that's not going to happen. _Naomi put on a fake smile and put a hand on Trent's shoulder.

"Well, as your friends, we-" she paused as she heard Conner snort behind her. Naomi pursed her lips and cleared her throat. "I'd hate to see something bad happen to you, so maybe it'd be better if you stayed here."

"No offense, but I'd rather not be somewhere I'm not wanted," Trent replied, shrugging her hand off his shoulder.

"Can't argue with that," Conner said.

"You're wanted," Naomi said. "I mean, we need your help,"

"With what?" Trent asked skeptically.

"Finding the others," she said. Trent snickered softly and shook his head.

"Is that all I am to you? A means to find your friends?" He asked. Naomi narrowed her eyes.

"Please don't tell me you're trying to act all hurt and upset," she spat out lowly. "Aren't you the guy who dated a girl in hopes of getting information about Conner, Ethan and Kira?" Trent looked at her.

"That wasn't me," he said.

"Sure as hell looked like you," Naomi replied. She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. "I'm sorry," she said. She cleared her throat and looked up at him again, the smile back on her face. "I shouldn't have said that," she said. "We just need your help, please?"

"I told you, I don't remember anything from that time. I can't help you. I don't know where they are," Trent said.

"Try, please?" Naomi said. She put her hand on his shoulder again. "Just try?" She said. She heard Conner clear his throat behind her and pulled her hand away. "Think of it this way, it might be a way to redeem yourself," she suggested.

"Its going to take a lot more than that," Conner muttered loudly.

"But it'll be a start," Naomi said. Trent sighed.

"Fine," he said. He stepped back. "I guess I'll go downstairs and help Hayley," he said. He turned and went back through the kitchen. Naomi sighed and slumped her shoulders. She stood up straight and turned around when she heard someone clapping behind her.

"Bravo," Conner said. "Award winning performance. Some points will be deducted though, thanks to that slight slip up, but all in all, bravo," Conner said. Naomi rolled her eyes.

"Right," Naomi said. "Thanks for your help, by the way," she said sarcastically. Conner shrugged.

"Hey, I never said I was going to pretend I liked him," Conner said.

"Whatever," Naomi replied. "I'm going to go see if Trini's ready to go to the park," she said.

"Have fun." Conner replied. Naomi just nodded and headed away from the living room and up the stairs. She walked down the hall and came to the door to Trini's room. She knocked gently on the door.

"Trini?" She called out gently.

"Yeah?" Came the child's reply. Naomi slowly opened the door and walked in. She saw Trini sitting on her bed, still in her pajamas with a book on her lap. On closer inspection, Naomi saw that it was a photo album.

"Hey," she said, smiling at the girl. Trini looked up at her. Naomi's heart nearly broke at the sadness in the girl's eyes. She tucked her hair behind her ear and walked over to the bed, sitting next to Trini. "What's that?" She asked.

"Pictures," Trini said. Naomi looked down and saw the pictures. There were a few with Trini and Kimberly, a few with Kimberly and a dark skinned man who looked like he was about Kimberly and Tommy's age, a tall muscular man who also looked about their age and an Asian woman who looked to be the same age as the others. "No one's here," she muttered.

"What do you mean?" Naomi asked.

"Mommy's gone," Trini said. She began pointing at the pictures. "Auntie Trini's dead," she said, pointing at the Asian woman, "Uncle Jason's in the hospital," she said, pointing at the muscular man, "and Uncle Zack's far away," she concluded, pointing at the other man. "No one's here," she repeated. "I'm all alone," Naomi sighed and put an arm around Trini's shoulders and pulled her close, letting the little girl rest her face against her chest.

"Your daddy's here," Naomi said gently. "I'm here, Conner, Kira and Hayley are here. You're not all alone, honey," she said.

"But what about mommy and Ethan?" Trini asked. Naomi closed her eyes and tightened her hold on Trini.

"We'll find them," she promised. She heard Trini's voice hitch slightly as she started to cry. She curled into Naomi's embrace, burying her face into her chest. Naomi ducked her head and kissed the top of Trini's head as she pulled her closer, rubbing the young girl's back as she cried.


	13. Memory Lane

AN from "Z": Just so you know, here's some evidence on how insane "Syd" and I are-----In this chapter, Naomi reminiscences, so there's some "flashbacks" to the first chapter of Twisted Emotions in here………flashbacks we had to slightly tweak a bit---example: The bit where Ethan and Naomi first met, originally it was almost in Ethan's p.o.v…….we had to change it to Naomi's p.o.v since she's the one remembering……Yeah, we're just that crazy, heh. Anyway, enjoy the chappy.

---

Naomi continued to comfort Trini as she cried for a while. She heard the girl's tiny sobs begin to come few and far between until they were gone completely. She felt Trini sit up and wipe at her eyes.

"Feel better?" She asked. Trini sniffled gently and nodded. Naomi smiled. "Good," she said. "I was wondering if you wanted to go to the park," she said. The young girl smiled softly, liking the idea.

"Yeah," she said, her voice a mixture of her remaining sadness and the new excitement.

"Great," Naomi said. She patted the little girl's hand. "So how about I go and let you get ready and we leave in about half an hour?"

"Okay," Trini said, crawling off the bed.

"All right," Naomi said. She got up and left the room, pulling the door shut behind her. She leaned against the wall right outside Trini's room and sighed.

"Everything okay?" She heard someone ask. She looked up to see Tommy existing his bedroom in a change of clothes. Naomi nodded.

"Yeah," Naomi said. "Trini's just getting ready," she said.

"All right," he said. He walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Listen, I just wanted to thank you,"

"For?" Naomi asked.

"Helping out," he said. "With Trini. She's really grown a liking to you," he said. Naomi smiled.

"She's a great kid," Naomi said. "Besides, I feel better being around here, knowing what's going on. And……..I want to help, in anyway I can. Since I know nothing about dimensional scanning and don't have any super powers or anything, figured I'd help with Trini," she said. She looked down. "Besides, I figured the three of us: you, me and Trini, are in the same boat. People we care for deeply aren't around right now," she went on to say. She felt Tommy give her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "You're taking care of finding them, so Trini and I just need to hope for the best and try our best not to lose that hope."

"Thank you," he said. He smiled softly. "I bet you never imagined being here like this when you walked into my classroom your first day at Reefside High, huh?" He asked. Naomi laughed softly, her mind briefly flashing back to that day, standing nervously at the door to his classroom.

"There are a lot of things I never imagined happening back then," she said.

"Any regrets?" Tommy asked. Naomi sighed and shook her head.

"Not really," she said. "Although, I wish I could've done more, ya know? Maybe pulled Ethan up before Mesogog got to me, or something."

"You did all you could. Probably even more," Tommy stated.

"Thanks," Naomi said.

"Well, I should get going," he said. "Have fun at the park," he said as he went to walk down the stairs. "I mean it, you both deserve it," he said. Naomi smiled gently and nodded.

"Bye," she said. Tommy went to go down the stairs. She stood up straight as something occurred to her. "Dr. Oliver," she called out. Tommy turned back to her.

"Yeah?" He asked. Naomi stood up from the wall and walked over to him.

"Before, when I went to check on Trini and ask her if she wanted to go to the park, she was……well she was upset. She was sitting on her bed looking at some old photos of herself, Dr. Hart and some other people…….Uh……someone named...Trini…..Zack and Jason," she said. Tommy nodded.

"They're friends of ours….Kim and I………They kind of helped Kimberly out with Katrina," he said, using Trini's real name to differentiate between her and the actual Trini.

"Were they really involved in her life?" Naomi asked. "I mean, I'm sorry if I'm prying, I just mean…"

"No, no, it's all right," he said. "Well, Trini passed away a few years ago," he said, causing Naomi to nod, indicating she knew about that. "But, yeah, they were pretty involved, why?"

"Well, Trini said something about being all alone……..I think now that her mom's…….well, not around at the moment, she's just feeling like everyone in her life is gone or something." Tommy frowned, then sighed.

"Right," he said. Naomi caught onto what he must've been thinking and quickly backpedaled her statement.

"Not that you're not important or anything………but, I don't know, I guess since you're fairly new in her life……..I don't mean that you…….I…." Naomi said, realizing she was having trouble explaining what she meant. Tommy shook his head.

"No, I understand," he said. He folded his arms across his chest. "Jason's……….well, he…….He's not available right now," he said. "Maybe I can call Zack and get him to make a trip out here or something," he said. Naomi nodded.

"That might be a good idea. It might make her feel better," she said. Tommy nodded.

"Thanks for letting me know about how she's feeling," he said. Naomi smiled.

"Hey, what kind of babysitter would I be if I didn't keep you informed?" She asked. Tommy smiled.

"Right," he said. "Well, I'll see you guys later," he said. Naomi nodded as he turned and walked down the stairs. Naomi followed, deciding to sit with Conner and Kira while she waited for Trini. As she got to the bottom of the stairs, she saw Tommy walk out the door. Naomi went and resumed her position on the armchair. She looked over and saw Conner lying beside Kira, who was still asleep.

"Man, that girl is sure a sound sleeper," Naomi joked. Conner laughed gently.

"So, you and Trini are heading out?" Conner asked, Naomi nodded.

"She's just getting ready," she said. Conner nodded, giving a soft 'ah'. A few minutes later, they heard the small footsteps of the young girl in question descending the stairs.

"I'm ready," she announced as soon as she got to the bottom of the stairs. Naomi smiled and stood up, walking over to her.

"Great, let's go," she said, taking hold of Trini's hand. The two went to walk out the door when Conner's voice stopped them.

"Naomi," he called out gently. Both girls looked at him. He gestured for her to come over. Naomi released Trini's hand and walked over to him as he sat up on the bed.

"What's up?"

"Do you have your cell phone with you?" He asked. Naomi tilted her head in slight confusion as to why he'd be asking about that.

"……Yeah, why?" She asked.

"Well, just in case. I mean, with what happened last night. So you have a way to reach us in case.."

"Aw," Naomi said, ruffling Conner's hair playfully. "You're worried about me? How sweet." Conner shook his head, freeing himself from her ruffling.

"I try to be serious and this is what I get," he grumbled. Naomi laughed lightly.

"I'm sorry," she said. "We'll be careful," she said in a serious tone.

"Good," Conner said. Naomi gave him one last smile before going back to Trini and leaving with her.

----

Tommy drove from his house and was soon in the hospital parking lot. He parked and walked out of the car, breezing through the entrance of the hospital.

"Tommy, hi," he stopped when he heard his name. He paused and looked over to see a nurse standing a few feet away. He remembered meeting her a few times when he stopped by to see Kimberly, but at the moment, her name escaped him.

"Uh…..hi……uh…." he stammered. The nurse walked over to him.

"Heather," she said. Tommy nodded sheepishly.

"Right, sorry," he said. Heather shook her head, smiling gently.

"No problem," she said. "Are you here to see Mr. Scott?" She asked. Obviously, Heather knew about Kimberly's closeness with Jason, Tommy reasoned in his mind. He nodded.

"Yeah, if that's okay," he said, never really committing the visiting hour schedule to memory.

"Uh huh, go right on in," she said.

"Thank you," he said. He went to walk to Jason's room when Heather's voice stopped him.

"Oh hey, how's Dr. Hart?" Heather asked. "Is her mother doing okay?" Tommy blanked for a second but remembered he told the hospital that Kimberly had to take a leave of absence for a while due to an emergency concerning her mother in France.

"Oh. Well, Kim's doing all right," Tommy lied. He was grateful for his years as a ranger, forcing him to become a good liar after having to hide such a big secret for most of his life. "Her mom….Uh……it's touch and go right now, so…..we don't know when she'll be coming back,"

"Oh," Heather said. She smiled. "I bet you're really missing her, huh?"

"You have no idea," Tommy sighed. At that moment, a doctor approached Heather.

"Heather, have you taken Mrs. Morgenstern's vitals like I asked?" He asked.

"Oh right, sorry, I was just on my way," she said. She cast a look at Tommy. "Gotta go," she said before leaving. Tommy gave the doctor a courteous nod before walking down the hall to Jason's room. He paused at the door, placing his hand on knob and taking a deep breath.

"Here goes," he said to himself.

----

At the park, Naomi pushed Trini gently on the swings before the younger girl protested, stating she could pump on her own. Naomi laughed gently and nodded.

"Okay, I'm sorry," she said. She took a seat on the swing adjacent to Trini's. She looked down, shifting her feet on the ground, making the swing move back and forth ever so gently as her mind wondered. Ever since Tommy brought up Naomi's first day in Reefside, her mind had been going back to that day with slight amusement on how everything had changed in such a short time. She used to be shy, awkward, even a little nerdy……That all seemed to change when she came to this place. When she met these people.

"_Can I help you?" Tommy asked.. _

"I'm Naomi Carlton and I'm supposed to be in this class," she replied. Tommy nodded.

"Alright, come on in," he told her as he held the door open. Naomi entered the room and looked around at her future classmates. Four she spotted almost immedality looked quite busy, and not the least bit interested in her. The girl in yellow and black sat cross-legged on a stool, strumming her guitar lovingly and singing softly. The boy in blue sitting next to her, was too entranced by his computer to even care about the soft and yet mesmerizing sound coming from the girls mouth. The boy in red that sat across from the yellow clad female, tried to hide his stares as he looked over his notes. And finally, the boy in white that sat between the red and yellow humans was doodling in a notebook and listening contently to the female singer.

It was quite funny, looking back. In that moment, when she first laid eyes on Tommy, Kira, Conner, Ethan and Trent, she had no idea what would become. She had no idea Tommy would soon become more than just a science teacher, but a friend……more than a friend…….a counselor, a guide……almost like a father……or well, a cool uncle. She had no idea Kira would be her best friend. Frankly, back then, she didn't even imagine ever having a best friend. She had no idea Conner would be….well, she wasn't quite sure what exactly Conner was to her. Of course he was her friend, but at the same time, his cocky attitude managed to make her so angry sometimes. But she realized their rocky moments only began after Ethan and Kimberly disappeared. _Maybe things will be better when we find them………if…._Naomi quickly shook her head, banishing that thought from her head. She cast a glance at Trini as she pumped herself on the swing, giggling gently. Naomi smiled, happy to see Trini happy. She sighed, her mind wandering again.

_"Naomi, why don't you go sit by Connor?" He said. He pointed to the guy in red. Naomi slowly made her way over to the seat. _

"Now, Kira, Ethan, if you two wouldn't mind putting away the music and games, we can get started." Tommy finished. Kira placed her guitar beside her and smiled at Naomi.

"Kira Ford." She said, sticking her hand out. Naomi shook it and smiled back.

"Naomi." She replied.

Naomi chuckled to herself at how much of a dork she was back then. Actively accepting Tommy's museum assignment even though he gave her a chance to basically slack off, only to end of not doing it because of…….him……..

_"I didn't know this dinosaur was taken," she heard someone say. She looked up from her spot in front of the large dinosaur model and saw a boy standing at the doorway. She recognized him as the guy from the classroom, playing on a computer. Her eyes widened a bit, already feeling like she was in the way and unwanted._

"_I..I'm sorry," she said. "I figured the fact that Triceratops is such an obvious choice, no one would come by, thinking someone else would grab it up." She said apologetically. She turned back to the statue. "Tri, middle English word, stemming from Latin and Greek roots, shares a definition with trei, which possesses indo-European roots. Cera, or Kera, Greek for horn, and Ops, which is face, from Latin," she said to herself. She could feel the boy's eyes on her. It felt a little unnerving, that feeling of being watched. _

_"That's not even on the plague," he said. "How did you-"? _

_"I'm a word wizard." She responded, putting in some pride in her words, when in reality, this was just something for her to do. She wasn't very popular at boarding school, so she did whatever she could to entertain herself……even if it was reading up on random things like the origins of words, which only seemed to convey a nerd-like persona, making her even more of a less likely candidate for popularity. "I like reading up on words and their roots and such," She said. She looked up at the boy. "I'm a freak, aren't I?" She said. He gave her a friendly smile. _

"Hey, I won't think you're a freak if you don't think I'm a freak for spending almost an entire day trying to beat a dumb computer game," he said. Naomi looked at him. Computer games, yet another thing she became immersed in. Like reading random facts about words, it gave her something to do……but she found this form of distraction much more entertaining, of course.

_"What game?" She asked. _

_"Wizard of the Wood," he said. Her face lit up. She had played Wizard of the Wood, and was actually shocked she had something in common with this guy. Was this what it was like to relate to someone else? Sure, she had had a conversation with that girl, Kira, on the way to the museum, but that was different. It was more, Kira being kind to the new arrival. This was different. _

_"Oh my god! How far did you get? I almost won, but that stupid wizard wouldn't give me the code." She said excitedly. He looked at her, slightly shocked. _

"You do computer games?" He asked.

_"Sometimes," she said. "I'm Naomi by the way," she said. There was something about this guy. She felt like he could be a really good friend. She didn't feel that usual fear and nervousness with the opposite sex that came from growing up in an all girl's boarding school and having little to no interaction with guys. Everything felt natural, calm._

_"I'm Ethan." He said. Naomi smiled. _

_"Well, Ethan, since we were both seekers of the code in Wizard of the Wood, how about I give you Tri here?" She asked. She had made this new friend, and a part of her was almost afraid that if she didn't give him this, he'd leave. Maybe not leave her, per say, but leave to find an unclaimed model, and she wanted him to stay. Ethan looked at her. _

_"Really?" He asked. Naomi nodded. _

"Dr. Oliver said since it was my first day, I didn't have to do the assignment, but I figured I should, didn't want him to think I was a slacker, but I don't want everyone else to think I'm some sort of brown- noser." She rambled. Which was true. When she was first informed of going to public school by her parents, the idea of going some place where no one knew her was refreshing, seductive. She wanted to start fresh, be a whole new person, let go of "Nerdy Naomi". Never again would she have to see that moniker scrawled on desks and walls by truly malicious girls. Ethan nodded.

"You've got yourself a deal Naomi." He replied.

It was like that day was the beginning. The beginning of her new life. Of course, she knew that moving to Reefside and starting public school would be a new beginning, but she had no idea how much of a beginning it would turn out to be. It was the beginning of a lack of control over things. A part of Naomi wished she could go back to the days when her life was simple, uncomplicated, and completely predictable…….but then she remembered how incredibly miserable she was with all that simplicity and predictability. And, she had to admit, there was something seductive in the unknown. There was something appealing in always being surprised. Then again, some surprises she could do without…..

"_Well, after the fight, I went to Conner's car," Trent said._

"_Uh huh," Naomi said, not totally paying attention._

"_And I messed it up," he said. Naomi looked at him._

"_What, you scratched the paint or something?" She asked. Trent was silent. "Oh god, please tell me you just scratched the paint." _

"_I cut the brakes," He said. _

Naomi shuddered at that memory. Weeks had passed since Conner and Kira's accident, but she always remembered that conversation with Trent. It was yet another beginning. It was the beginning of everything falling to pieces.

"_You don't want to help. You just want to destroy me, just like everyone else!" Trent yelled as he squeezed a little harder. Naomi tried to pull at his hands but he was too strong. Naomi gurgled and coughed as she kept pulling at his hands. One of her hands went around his wrist as she kept pulling. She accidentally pushed the sleeve of his white button down shirt up, revealing his bracelet. Wh……That looks like the bracelet Ethan has……….but……… Her mind tried to process what she was seeing. Her knee shot up and caught him in the groin, causing him to stumble backwards with a grunt. Naomi put her hand against her neck as she breathed. She looked at Trent. Her head cleared as everything came together._

"_It's you.." She whispered. "You're the white ranger.." _

To say it was the first of many unpleasant surprises would be both true and untrue at the same time, Naomi figured. On one hand, finding out her best friends were keeping such a big secret from her could be seen as an unpleasant surprise, especially when it came to Ethan's lying to her. But she wasn't sure if that was necessarily unpleasant. Of course, at first it felt as such, but now, looking back, it led to so many things that she wouldn't give up for the world.

"Naomi?" The voice and the small hand on her pant leg brought Naomi out of her thoughts. Naomi blinked and looked at the young girl next to her who had stopped swinging. "Are you okay?" Naomi smiled and nodded.

"Yeah," she said. "Just, thinking," she added. Trini nodded.

"Oh," she said. "Are you sure? You look sad."

"I'm all right," Naomi said, widening her smile in hopes it would reassure the little girl. "I guess I'm just missing people too." Trini tilted her head to the side.

"Ethan?" She asked. Naomi's smile wavered a bit but maintained.

"Yeah," she said. Trini stood up from her swing and stood in front of Naomi.

"Do you and Ethan love each other? Like my mommy and daddy?" Naomi saw the sadness in her eyes at the mention of Kimberly. Naomi put her arm around the girl's waist and pulled her up onto her lap, making her sit across her legs. Trini tucked her head under Naomi's chin as she laid her head on her shoulder. Naomi held Trini close with one hand while the other held on to the chain of the swing as she began to slowly sway the swing back and forth.

"I don't know if it's anything like your mommy and daddy," Naomi said. "They've got a huge, storybook love. But yes, I do love Ethan."

"Naomi?" Trini asked.

"Hmm?"

"Who's going to take care of me? If we don't find my mom and Ethan." Naomi sat back, making Trini sit up and look at her.

"We're going to find them," she told her firmly. "Don't you ever think otherwise." Trini looked down and nodded slowly. Naomi took her hand off of Trini's waist and placed it on Trini's head, letting the girl put her head back on her shoulder before replacing her hand on Trini's waist. "Besides, what do you mean who's going to take care of you? We all will, you know that," Naomi said as she resumed swinging them both gently. She felt Trini shrug against her and mutter something. "What?"

"What if they take me away?" Trini repeated. Naomi looked down at her.

"They who?"

"People," Trini said. "Because Tommy's not my real daddy." Naomi bit her lip and heaved a heavy sigh, her chest rising elevating Trini a bit.

"Who told you you'd ever get taken away for something like that?" Naomi asked.

"I heard mommy talk on the phone with Aunt Dana once when Uncle Jason first had that accident. She was scared because she said Uncle Jason was my guardian if anything happened to her. What's a guardian?" She asked. Naomi rubbed the small girl's back gently.

"A guardian is just someone who looks after you and makes sure you're okay," Naomi explained.

"But Uncle Jason did that all the time, why would he be my guardian if mommy got hurt?" Naomi heaved yet another sigh that made Trini sit up and look at her.

"Sometimes," Naomi began. "When people start having kids, they think about who will take care of the kids if something bad happened. If they got hurt or just….Well, need someone else there for them and that's the guardian. So, they sign some papers saying who it is they want to be the guardian. Sometimes it's a family member or, in your mom's case, a really good friend. And no one can take the kids away from the guardian because it's official."

"Aunt Dana told mommy she and Uncle Carter would be my guardians since Uncle Jason's…." Trini's voice trailed off. "But I want to stay with daddy," she said. Naomi gave her a gentle squeeze.

"Hey, no one's taking you away from him," Naomi said. "Don't you worry about that."

"If I have to stay with Uncle Carter and Aunt Dana, will you still come see me?" Trini asked. Naomi smiled.

"Of course I will," Naomi said. "And so will Kira, Conner, Hayley, and well, I'm pretty sure your dad's just going to have to move in with your aunt and uncle if it came to that," she said. "He's going to want to see you every single day." Trini seemed to smile at that.

"You think so?"

"Oh yeah. And the rest of us…..well, we're just going to get sleeping bags and camp out on your aunt and uncle's front lawn. So we'll all be there."

"You mean like now?" Trini joked, referring to how they were always at Tommy's house. Naomi laughed.

"Yeah, just like now," she said.

"Good," Trini said. Naomi smiled, glad to see she had managed to lift the girl's sprits, even if it was only just a bit.

---

Tommy sat on the plastic chair situated by Jason's bed. He looked exactly the same as the last time he had seen him, except he was beginning to have a fit of a stubble on his face. Tommy figured that perhaps Kimberly would shave him whenever she came to see him, taking diligent care of her oldest and closest friend. Tommy sat back and looked over Jason, really taking everything into himself. Jason's hair had grown somewhat significantly since the last time Tommy saw him-conscious-when they took part in the fight against the machine empire with the other red rangers. Back then, Jason's hair was short, in what Tommy could at best describe as a Ceaser hair cut. Now his hair ended just by his ears.

"You're probably going to want to head straight for a barber shop when you wake up, huh?" Tommy mused out loud with a smile. "Although, maybe you can keep it. The long hair look isn't bad. But, take it from me, it is a pain to take care of," he said, recalling on his long haired youth. "Why do you think I cut it? Too many mornings while rushing to get to class in college, trying to comb it out before I ran too late to class. I kind of like not needing to worry about it now," Tommy paused. "And, of course, this whole me actually worrying about my hair……stays between us, got it? Kim would never let me live it down if she found out I actually use product in my hair. Sure, she's been living with me for the past two months, but I've gotten pretty good at hiding my stuff," he said, laughing. He paused. "Yeah………Kim," he looked down. "You're probably wondering where she is………I…………I don't know………She……." He closed his eyes. "She's missing. And I'm trying to find her…………but………I don't…….." He cleared his throat, feeling a lump starting to form. He decided to change the subject. "I'm really sorry about not spending much time with you before," he said. "It was just……hard. Seeing you like this…….Bro……..but no, that's no excuse. I'm sorry." He sighed. "To be honest, it's still hard. I mean, half of me expected you to make some crack about my hair when I was talking about the drawbacks of having long hair……….I keep expecting you to say something…….but you're not going to, are you?" Tommy sighed as the only response was the constant beeping of the heart monitor. "But, you need someone here. So, here I am, bro." Tommy gave a sad smile. "You better believe I'm here for you," he said. He reached over and put a hand on one of Jason's hands. "So, did Kim tell you she and I are together again?" He smiled. "What am I saying, of course she did. She probably told you we're engaged too," he said. "And the baby…" Tommy's voice trailed off as the lump in his throat became more prominent.

Tommy put his face in his free hand as he took a shuddering breath and a few tears leaked out. "….The baby………Kim's pregnant with my baby…..It's a dream come true but……..But she's gone and I don't know if she's okay…..if the baby's okay……I………" his voice trailed off into sobs. Everything he had been holding in since that night for the sake of the others came pouring out of him. "And…….And Ethan…..god, Ethan…….he's with her and……..He's one of my students……..What the hell kind of teacher am I? One of my students is gone……..His family's worried sick, they don't know anything. God……..I………If I can't take care of my own students…….Teenagers………How the hell am I going to take care of Trini………and the baby……….and………" More sobs came out of him. "One of my students is gone, and so is my fiancé……..the only woman I've ever loved…..and my baby….." Tommy sat back and let his tears take over him completely. He sat there, crying uncontrollably for a while. After what felt like forever, Tommy paused as he heard something………almost like a breath.

"I……." came a low, barely audible voice. "…..always………kn….ew………..yo…..you and Kim would…..get back…..t……gether….s..someday…..." Tommy slowly pulled his hand away from his face and took in a sharp breath at what he saw, Jason staring right back at him.

"J…….Jase?" Tommy whispered, not believing his eyes. Jason gave a small smile and closed his eyes as he erupted into a round of coughs. Tommy leaned forward and put a hand on his friend's shoulder, steadying him against the bed until the coughs ceased.

"Ugh….." Jason nearly croaked. His voice sounding nothing like what it normally did. "I feel like I swallowed a truck load of sandpaper." Tommy looked down at his friend, his brother, his teammate, and let lose a long, hearty laugh.


	14. Change

Naomi and Trini stayed on the swing together for a long while, Trini leaning against Naomi's shoulder as Naomi swung them back and forth on the swing.

"Naomi?" Trini asked.

"Hmm?"

"Why don't you ever talk about your mom and dad?" Naomi stopped the swing and looked down.

"Huh?" She asked.

"Why don't you ever talk about your mom and dad?"

"I…..I talk about them, don't I?" Naomi asked, the subject of discussion making her uneasy. Trini shook her head.

"Uh uh, you don't," Trini said.

"Hmm," Naomi said nonchalantly. "I guess it just never occurred to me to bring them up." She shrugged a bit to further convey her nonchalance. Suddenly her cell phone rang. _Saved by the bell……..or…..well, ring._ Naomi shifted Trini off her lap and stood up, fishing her phone out of her jeans pocket and flipping it open before bringing it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, Naomi, Dr. O just called," came Conner's voice.

"…….Is something wrong?" Naomi asked. Trini looked up at her.

"I don't know. He asked if you and Trini were back from the park yet and when I told him no, he said he wanted you to bring her to the hospital."

"Why?"

"……..Didn't I just cover this with the 'I don't know'?" Conner replied. Naomi rolled her eyes. "Anyway-"

"Well, how did he sound when he called?" Naomi asked. "Upset?"

"Naomi, I don't know what's going on," Conner said, exasperated. "Now, as I was saying, I'm coming by the park with Kira to get you guys."

"What about Trent?" Naomi asked.

"What _about _Trent?" Conner asked. Naomi looked at Trini and tilted the phone away from her mouth to address her.

"Trini, why don't you ride on the swing some more?" She asked.

"Okay," she said as she got back on the swing. Naomi gave her a smile before turning away from her and bringing the phone back to its original place.

"You're leaving him alone with Hayley?" Naomi asked, lowering her voice. Conner sighed.

"Well what was I supposed to do? Besides, Hayley said she could manage," he said.

"All right," Naomi said, realizing there wasn't much that could be done about Trent. "How far are you guys from here?"

"We'll be there in a few minutes," Conner said.

"Okay," Naomi said, hanging up. She turned back towards Trini and was surprised to see the girl off the swings and standing right by her. "Oh gosh," Naomi said, placing a hand on her chest. "You startled me."

"I'm sorry," Trini replied. "What's wrong?" Naomi paused. _What do I say? Dr. Oliver wants her at the hospital…..so it must have something to do with that guy, Jason. What if he's………….No, no, Dr. Oliver wouldn't want Trini rushed to the hospital if that was the case……..Would he? _Naomi put on a smile.

"Nothing," she said. "Conner and Kira are just coming to pick us up to meet your dad at the hospital."

"Am I going to see Uncle Jason?" Trini asked. Naomi opened her respond, then closed it, unsure what to say.

"I don't know, Conner just said that he called and wanted you at the hospital." Trini frowned.

"Is Uncle Jason all right?"

"I'm sure everything's fine," Naomi assured her. Naomi looked up and saw Kira standing outside of Conner's car, waving them over. "Come on," she said, taking hold of Trini's hand as they walked to Conner's car. Once there, Naomi had Trini slide in the back as she took notice of Kira's appearance. The bruises and aftermath of her difficult evening were unseen. Kira saw this and gave a half smile to her friend.

"Thank goodness for Cover Girl, huh?" She said. Naomi smiled and nodded as Kira got back in the car and Naomi got in next to Trini.

"So, Kira, how are you feeling?" Naomi asked as Conner pulled away from the curb and began driving to the hospital. Kira caught Naomi's gaze through the rearview mirror.

"Much better," she said. "I guess all I needed was a good night's rest."

"A good night's rest? You slept through practically everything. It was like you were in a c…" Conner stopped right there and cleared his throat. "Uh, anyway.." He said. Kira and Naomi got where he was going and were grateful he stopped himself, given the situation. A few minutes later, they pulled into the hospital parking lot and entered through the main doors.

"Do you know where we're supposed to meet him?" Naomi asked Conner after taking a quick scan of the entryway and not seeing their teacher. Conner shrugged.

"He didn't say," Conner said.

"There's Heather," Trini piped in, pointing to the triage desk. Trini went to walk over there, leaving the three teenagers behind.

"I guess we follow the kid," Kira said, smirking a bit. Conner and Naomi nodded as they all followed. They all came to a stop at the desk, where Heather sat, talking on the phone. She caught sight of Trini and gave the little girl a smile as she continued speaking on the phone. After she hung up she looked at Trini.

"Hey there cutie," she said, smiling at Trini.

"Hi," Trini said. "Do you know where my dad is?" She asked.

"Uh huh, he's visiting Mr. Scott," she said. "Do you want me to go get him?"

"Can I just go to the room?" Trini asked. Heather frowned.

"I'm sorry sweetie but……well……Hospital policy……..I……..You're too young……I'm sorry." Trini looked down. Naomi put an arm around the girl's shoulders.

"Okay, Trini, how about we just wait here and have Heather go get your dad?" Naomi suggested as they went to go sit in the waiting area. Kira turned to follow as Heather got up from her seat. Conner looked at Trini before clearing his throat and stepping forward, leaning against the desk and reaching over, gently taking hold of Heather's wrist, stopping her. Heather stopped and saw Conner there, smiling at her.

"Hi, Heather, is it?" He asked, making Naomi, Kira and Trini stop and look at him. Heather nodded. "Well, listen, we appreciate that you're just trying to do your job and don't want to go against the rules or anything," he said, his voice low. "I mean, I'd sure hate to get you into trouble or anything," he added. Kira caught this and found herself narrowing her eyes into thin slits and the obvious flirtation. "But, well, Mr. Scott's a very close friend of Dr. Hart's family,"

"I know that," Heather replied.

"Right. The guy's like an uncle to the kid. And, well, she really had her heart set on seeing him." Heather sighed and looked at Trini.

"Honey, I'm sorry, but I can't let you go in," she said. Trini nodded. Heather's attention was brought back to the boy holding her wrist when she felt Conner let go of her.

"Come on, just this once?" He asked, giving the nurse a wink. Heather blushed a bit as a smile came on her lips. Kira rolled her eyes.

"Oh, please," she muttered to herself. Naomi looked at her and couldn't help it as a small smirk came on her face.

"Well," Heather said. "All right, just this once," she said.

"Great, thanks," Conner said, giving her one last wink before she gave them Jason's room number.

"Just, make sure none of the doctors see her. I've already gotten chewed out once today," Heather pleaded.

"We'll be incredibly stealth-like," Conner said, grinning, causing Heather to giggle slightly.

"Thank you Heather," Trini said, giving the nurse a grateful smile.

"Come on," Naomi said, as she took Trini's hand and they walked towards Jason's room with Kira and Conner behind them. Once they were far enough from the triage desk, Kira balled up her fist and hit Conner's shoulder as hard as she could. Conner stumbled and nearly collided with the wall from the force.

"Ow," Conner said. His eyes grew wide and he looked at his girlfriend. Not too far ahead of them, Naomi and Trini had stopped to look at them. Kira said nothing as she turned and caught up with Naomi and Trini. Conner sighed and rubbed his sore shoulder. Naomi chuckled as the three of them walked ahead of Conner.

"Someone's jealous," Naomi teased. Kira looked at her.

"What? Jealous? Of that nurse? Get real," Kira said.

"Uh huh, and why did you just hit your boyfriend?" Naomi asked.

"Because that was just so incredibly cheesy and stupid," Kira said.

"Uh huh, whatever you say," Naomi said. Soon, the four of them reached Jason's room and saw Tommy standing right outside of it.

"Dr. Oliver," Kira said, catching their teacher's attention. Tommy looked up and saw them coming towards him. They came to a stop by him.

"Is everything okay?" Naomi asked. Tommy nodded.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Tommy said. He opened his mouth to say more but the door to Jason's room opened. The teens saw a doctor coming out of the room. Naomi gently nudged Trini behind her as Conner and Kira lined up next to Naomi, making sure Trini was unseen. Tommy cast an odd look at this three students but shrugged it off before turning to the doctor.

"You can go back in now," the doctor said, giving Tommy a warm smile.

"Thank you," Tommy said. He looked at the others and tilted his head towards the day, indicating for them to follow him in. They made no move to follow him, deciding to wait until the doctor left. The doctor gave them a similar look as to what Tommy had given them, which was met with all three teenagers smiling at the doctor. She furrowed her brows before shrugging and walking away. Once the doctor was gone, Kira and Conner shifted to the side and let Trini come out from behind them. "What was that all about?" Tommy asked as they walked to the door with him.

"Trini's not supposed to be here," Kira said. "She's too young." Tommy frowned.

"What? But Kim brought her in to see Jason once," Tommy said.

"Well, Dr. Hart does work here," Conner pointed out. "I guess she gets a free pass for sneaking people in or something," Tommy nodded.

"Oh, I see. So how'd you get her in?"

"I had something to do with that," Conner boasted, which resulted in Kira smacking his shoulder. "Would you please stop doing that?" Conner snapped, glaring at Kira.

"Right, well, come on," Tommy said, not wanting to know what was going on between those two. He reached over and took Trini's hand from Naomi as he led the way inside the room. He opened the door and walked in, the other's following in, shutting the door behind them. Trini looked over to the bed and gasped, her eyes lighting up like Christmas lights at what she saw: Jason sitting up in the bed that was tilted upwards, very much awake.

"Uncle Jason!" Trini squealed as she let go of Tommy's hand and ran to the bedside. Jason smiled. Trini stopped short, unsure whether or not she could hug him, afraid she'd hurt him. Jason saw her hesitation.

"C'mere you!" Jason said as he reached down and scooped her up and brought her up on to his lap. Trini laughed and put her arms around Jason, hugging him. "Oh man, what happened to the little kid I last saw?" Jason said, marveling at how much Trini had grown in the two years. Tommy stood back and smiled at the scene. Jason and Trini hugged each other closely. Tommy took his seat next to the bed.

"So, what did the doctor say?" He asked. Jason looked at his friend, Trini still attached to him, which caused the others in the room to smile a bit.

"She wants to keep me for a little while longer, run some tests and make sure things are clear and there's no damage to the noggin," Jason said. "According to the doctor there's usually a concern about muscle atrophy with stuff like this, but I guess…." Jason trailed off. He cleared his throat. "I guess Kim made sure to work the limps a bit when she'd visit me," he said. He looked down a bit. "Uh, and as far as…..the memory stuff…….She said that should come back soon."

"Memory stuff?" Conner blurted out. Tommy and Jason looked at the young man, making Conner instantly wonder if he had overstepped some type of boundary. "Sorry,"

"It's nothing," Tommy said. "Jason's just not remembering the accident right now," he looked at his friend and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing. "Which is fine," he told him firmly.

"Tommy, it's not just the accident," Jason sighed. "I don't remember anything after the…." He paused, looking at the teens. "Thing….." he said. Tommy furrowed his brows in confusion when he realized what Jason was getting to. He smiled.

"You can speak freely here, man," he said. "They know,"

"Know?" Jason asked. Tommy gave him a look, which soon gave Jason the idea what he meant. He laughed, shaking his head. "You heading up a new ranger team, why doesn't that surprise me?" Tommy grinned. He motioned for the teens to come closer, they obliged, gathering at the foot of the bed.

"Jason, this is Conner, the red ranger," he said. Jason smiled at Conner, giving him a nod that seemed to give an extra bout of respect to he who shared his former color. "Kira, the yellow ranger," he said, Jason smiled at her as well. "And Naomi, sh-"

"Ah, ah," Jason said, stopping him. He shifted Trini slightly, having the little girl curl up against his side so he could look directly at the tree teens. "Let me guess," he said. He looked at Naomi and took into account her blue jeans and her blue shirt poking out from the zipper of her black sweatshirt that was only pulled up half way and the blue teardrop pendant that rested on her chest. "Blue ranger?" Naomi paled slightly and looked down. "There's female blue ranger's now? How progressive," Jason said, smiling. Tommy gave Jason's shoulder a warning squeeze. Jason looked at him. "What?" Tommy just shook his head. Jason gave him a confused look before looking back at the others. "Did I say something wrong?" Conner and Kira looked down, unsure what to say. Naomi sighed and looked up.

"What the others are having trouble getting out is, no, I'm not the blue ranger. He's……um…..He's not around right now," she said. "I'm just……..I guess you could call me a Power Ranger groupie," she said, giving him a forced smile. Kira put her arm around Naomi's shoulder and pulled her closer to her, letting Naomi put her head on her shoulder. Jason frowned.

"I'm sorry……..I didn't mean to……."

"It's okay," Tommy said. He sighed. "He and Kim…..are…….it's a long story."

"Evil villain opened up hole in ground, supposedly a hole leading to some other dimension or something, Ethan and Dr. Hart fell in, hole closed up," Conner said.

"I guess it's not a very long story…" Tommy said. Jason laid back, taking this all in. When he had first woken up he heard Tommy talking and got that Kimberly was missing, but hearing what happened seemed to fall on him like a ton of bricks.

"Wow," he said lowly. "When?" Jason asked.

"A few days ago," Kira said.

"I think I'm going to go out for some air," Naomi said as she stood up straight and stepped out of Kira's grasp, making her way to the door. Kira looked at her.

"Naomi-"

"I'm fine," she said before quickly exiting. Jason blinked.

"I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject," he said.

"I'll go see if she's okay," Kira said. Tommy shook his head, standing up.

"No, you guys stay, I'll go," he said.

"Are you sure?" Conner asked as Tommy passed him on his way to the door. Tommy smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, hey, it gives you two a chance to talk to a true ranger veteran," he said.

"God, you make me sound ancient," Jason said as Trini shifted in the bed and rested her head against his chest. Tommy smiled.

"Sorry, _grandpa_," he joked. The fact that he could joke with his best friend again, like when they were younger, filled Tommy with a strong elated feeling. Something he hadn't felt since that night in Mesogog's lab. Conner and Kira gathered closer to the bed, eager to meet not only another one of the original rangers, but someone who could give juicy stories about their teacher/mentor/teammate. Tommy left the room, expecting to find Naomi right outside the door, no such luck. He sighed and walk down the corridor, hoping to find her. He passed the door leading to the stairwell and stopped when something caught his eye. He looked through the window on the door and saw Naomi standing on the landing between the stairs that lead to the next floor. She was leaning against the banister, staring out the window to the parking lot. Tommy walked into the stairwell, Naomi not even looking up at the sound of the door opening and closing, nor at the sound of his footsteps on the stairs. He went and stood next to her, leaning against the stairwell.

"You okay?" He asked. He peered at her face. Her expression was blank, just staring ahead of her out the window. There were no tears in her eyes, nothing. Naomi simply nodded. She clasped and unclasped her hands together before simply wringing her fingers. "Naomi," Tommy said. "Jason didn't mean to-"

"I know," she said.

"And I'm sorry, I should've been more……clear…..when I started introducing you guys," Tommy said. Naomi smiled gently.

"Dr. Oliver, I didn't expect you to say 'here are two power rangers and a…'" Naomi paused. "What am I? A groupie……some pathetic hanger-on……what?" Tommy sighed and put an arm around her shoulders.

"A friend," he said, his voice firm yet gentle, trying to make his point clear. Naomi let her head fall forward a bit, sighing. "Are you sure you're okay? Do you want to leave?" Naomi shook her head.

"No, I'm fine,"

"Are you sure? I could get Conner to-"

"No, really, I'm fine," she said, lifting her head and looking right at him. Naomi sighed and looked out the window. She traced the teardrop pendant with one of her fingers, holding it in her palm. "Ethan gave this to me, did you know that?" She asked. Tommy nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "He told me about it after you tore it off and gave it back to him," Tommy said. Naomi sighed.

"I hated that," she said. "All that time I wasted being so angry. That time I wasted with Trent. Time I could've used to be with Ethan," she sighed. "It's not fair," she said, tightening her jaw. "It's not fair that this happened…….right when we were just starting to be like………Like a normal couple. You know? He was my boyfriend, I was his girlfriend, everything was just starting to fall into place and…." Her voice trailed off as she looked up at Tommy. "I'm sorry," she said. "You must think I'm some silly selfish little teenager." Tommy shook his head.

"If you were some 'silly selfish little teenager' then I must be some silly selfish little adult," he said. He sighed and pulled his arm off of Naomi. "It's not fair what happened to Kim. We just got engaged, she's carrying my baby, it's not fair that she's gone. It's not fair that Trini's mother is missing. It's not fair, none of it is." Tommy looked out the window. "Unfortunately, being involved with this kind of stuff for so long as taught me that a lot of things are not fair," he said.

"How do you do it?" Naomi asked. "What keeps you from just wanting to just crawl into bed, pull the covers over your head and stay there forever and ever? Let the world fall to pieces all around you, but it's not a big deal because you don't have to watch it."

"Well, what's keeping you from doing it?" Tommy asked. Naomi shrugged.

"I don't know," she said.

"Yes, you do," Tommy said. Naomi chewed on her bottom lip.

"I guess, hope," she said. Tommy smiled.

"Exactly," he said. "That's all any of us have. Even if some intergalactic empire is trying to destroy the world and it looks like it's succeeding, you always have hope. Hope that you can protect people, hope that you'll destroy the bad guys, hope that you'll survive."

"Wow, suddenly all traces of my superhero envy are long gone," Naomi said. Tommy laughed. The two stood there in silence for a while, staring out of the window. "I've been doing some thinking today," she finally said.

"About?"

"Just…..the past few months," Naomi said. "How everything's changed. How _I've _changed." Tommy nodded.

"True. You certainly aren't the same girl who walked into my classroom,"

"Is that a good thing or bad thing?" Naomi asked. Tommy seemed pensive for a bit before answering.

"That depends on what you think, really," he said. "But as I said, you have changed. Back then, at first glance, you seemed kind of sheltered and guarded….extremely fragile."

"As supposed to now, when I'm hard as nails?" Naomi asked, not understanding what he meant.

"No, I wouldn't say that," Tommy said. "Maybe it's just from where you came from. Boarding school and what not. You weren't exposed to many things. Now, you have been, so you've changed."

"I guess," Naomi said. "But……I guess I also wonder about that first day…..When Ethan and I met. Would any of this have happened if I hadn't met him by the triceratops display that day? If I had just taken your original offer to slack off and just wandered around the museum? Would I be this close to any of you?"

"You make it seem like this closeness came after you found out about us being rangers," Tommy said.

"Fine, Kira, Conner, Ethan and I were close before I found out about that. But what about you and me? Be honest, before I was in on the big secret, you just saw me as just another student, right?" She asked. Tommy frowned.

"I guess," he said.

"Not that that's a bad thing. I mean, what were you supposed to see me as, right?"

"But if you're asking if I saw you as some random kid, the answer is no."

"Fine, but that was only because I was friends with Conner, Kira and Ethan," Naomi countered.

"…….Okay, you have a point there," Tommy said. Naomi smiled.

"I'm not taking offense. I mean, come on. If I had never found out the truth, I would've just seen you as my science teacher who had an unusual bond with my three friends," she said.

"Okay then," Tommy said. "But, if you're saying none of this would've happened if you and Ethan hadn't met in the museum, I've got to disagree. The two of you were in the same class. You were going to meet eventually. Ethan would've developed feelings for you, tried to woo you in his misguided fashion, and then everything that has happened would've happened eventually."

"So you're saying it's all fate?" Naomi asked. Tommy shrugged.

"Who knows," he said. "I'm a scientist, I'm just going by facts," he said with a grin. Naomi gave a short laugh.

"All right, I guess you're right then," she said. She looked out the window again. "I really have changed," she muttered. "I keep expecting to one day look in the mirror and see something different. Anything. Wake up one morning and my eyes go from green to brown or something. Or my nose or cheeks change………Something to reflect all this change. Reflect what I feel. But there's nothing. If no one knew any better, they'd assume I was the same girl who just left boarding school."

"You are the same girl," Tommy stated. "You've just grown up since then."

"Grown up in just a few months? My, what a miracle," Naomi kidded. Tommy laughed.

"Fine, situations and circumstances have accelerated your growth, but the point's still the same. You've grown up. There's nothing wrong with that," he said.

"It just seems too weird... I don't feel any different..." Naomi trailed off. Tommy nodded knowingly.

"That's the funny thing about growing up and maturing, you never really notice that its happening until you've finished growing up," he told her.

"I only feel a little different when I actually sit and look back on things. Look back on how I was before coming to Reefside. There's a change……But other than that, I don't feel it," she said. Tommy chuckled. "What?"

"Nothing. Just…..If Jason ever tells you anything about how I was when I was a teenager……Well, first of all, remember I am still your teacher so, you can't make fun of me," he said, making Naomi laughed. "And second of all, a lot of time has passed since then."

"I'm intrigued," Naomi said.

"We all change. It's natural. I mean, before Ethan, Conner and Kira became rangers, they were different. Conner was heavy into soccer, not to mention a tad self centered…….don't tell him I told you that," Naomi nodded, smiling. "Kira…….well, aside from changing who she socializes with, I haven't really seen much of a change……And Ethan, he used to be all about computers. Sure, he still is into that sort of thing, but he's seen that there's more to life then video games and chat rooms. They've all grown up, maybe it's something that would've happened eventually, maybe it's something that was brought on my this new responsibility that was thrust upon them. Who knows. Either way, everyone changes, whether it be gradual or not," he said. "Anyway, maybe we should get back to the room, the others might start to worry," he said. Naomi nodded.

"All right," she said. Tommy stood up straight and walked down the stairs. Naomi gave one last look out the window before tucking her hair behind her ear and turning to leave. As her finger glided across her red hair, she paused as an idea struck her. Tommy looked up from the bottom of the stairs, seeing her just standing there.

"Naomi? You all right?" Naomi looked at him and nodded.

"Uh huh," she said before joining him at the bottom of the stairs.


	15. Daddy and Brothers

Author Note from "Z": Hey guys, sorry for the long wait on the new chapter. First we got a little sidetracked with life and other things, then my computer got a little screwy and I couldn't get to the file containing the chapter for months. But finally, I was able to open it up. Anyway, this chapter is pretty short and kind of filler but I figured you'd guys would want something after such a long time without an update instead of having to wait longer.

Hope you enjoy. :)

---

Naomi and Tommy walked back into Jason's room and were greeted by Kira's laughter. Tommy smiled.

"Did I miss something?" He asked. Jason smiled at his friend.

"Oh nothing bro, just telling some stories," he said.

"Yeah," Conner said, smirking. "He told us about your wicked hair 'do, man," Conner laughed. Tommy's brow's furrowed.

"Daddy, what's a mullet?" Trini asked, making Kira laugh even harder. Naomi quirked her eyebrow at Tommy.

"Mullet, really?" She asked, barely containing her smirk. Tommy glared at Jason.

"Thanks, man," he said. "And hey, that was so not a mullet," Tommy added defensively, looking back on his hairstyle when he first met the others. "It was just…..growing out……." He said.

"Whatever you say, Tommy, whatever you say," Jason chuckled. Tommy rolled his eyes. Jason looked at Naomi.

"Hey, I'm really sorry ab-" Naomi cut him off by shaking her head.

"Don't worry about it," she said. She went over and stood by the bed. "Now, tell us a little more about this mullet. Did Dr. Oliver have a love for Monster Truck rallies?" Naomi said, giggling.

"It was **not** a mullet!" Tommy proclaimed.

"Now, are there any pictures from back then?" Conner asked. "We're going to need some visual verification on the mullet factor."

"It was not a……oh for the love of……never mind…" Tommy groaned.

"I don't think I have them with me," Jason said.

"Aw, no pictures?" Kira said, frowning.

"Oh, there is a god," Tommy sighed, gratefully. Jason looked at him and grinned.

"I'm sure you have pictures from back then, don't you?"

"Believe me, they will be burned the second I get home," Tommy said, causing the others to laugh.

"Well that's no fun!" Naomi replied while laughing. Tommy just rolled his eyes.

"I apologize that I'm not fun anymore." He remarked. The group continued to laugh. There was silence for a moment before Kira spoke.

"So what other strange escapades has Dr. O had?" She asked, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Jason laughed.

"Oh there are many escapades," Jason said with a smug grin. Tommy fixed his friend with a mock glare.

"Jase," he said in a warning tone. "I'd prefer it if you wouldn't undermine my respectable image to my students and daughter," he said. Jason eyed his friend with respect before looking at the little girl curled up beside him. Jason was happy to see that things seemed to have had gone on as they should have with Tommy and Kimberly. Yes, Jason now knew that his two oldest and dearest friends were engaged and expecting a child together but Jason smiled at how Tommy looked at Trini as his own daughter, not anything like a possible step daughter or Kimberly's daughter. Trini was Tommy's daughter, and Jason could tell that Tommy would pound anyone who tried to point out the logistics and say that Trini wasn't. A Jason was in deep contemplation, Naomi, Conner and Kira looked at their teacher with blank expressions for a minute before giving out collective snickers over his previous statement. Tommy rolled his eyes before walking over to the side of the bed where Trini sat, intrigued by the conversation. "You're not going to laugh at your daddy, are you?" He asked. Trini gave him a wide grin and shook her head. Tommy smiled. "Well, at least I've got one ally," he said.

"But she's a kid... She doesn't know better." Conner commented, running his mouth off before thinking. Everyone stared at him as a silence fell over the room. Conner's eyes widened. "Uh….I mean….." He rambled. He put on a wide smile as his eyes traveled to Trini. "You know I didn't mean that, right?" He asked. Naomi rolled her eyes and looked Kira.

"Would you like to hit him or shall I?" She asked.

"No, no, he's my idiot foot-in-mouth syndrome having boyfriend, I'll take care of it," Kira replied, a few seconds later her hand shot up as it collided with the back of his head.

"Ow!" He Conner yelped, causing Trini to giggle.

"Just because she's a kid doesn't mean she's not intelligent. I mean she did laugh at me hitting you, so Dr. Oliver's right... Her loyalties are in the right place." Kira commented, smiling at Trini who grinned right back at her. Conner rolled his eyes and gave a pleading look to Jason and Tommy.

"Can I get a little help from the fellow members of my gender here?" He asked. Jason chuckled and shook his head.

"Sorry Rookie," he said, reusing the nickname he had originally called Cole. "No one insults my niece," he said. Tommy agreed, putting a hand on Trini's shoulder. Conner sighed. He looked at Trini.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say you weren't smart," he said. Trini giggled.

"It's okay, it's not your fault you've got a syndrome," she said, causing Naomi and Kira to snort as they tried to hold in their laughter.

"I don't have a syndrome though!" Conner replied, trying to defend himself.

"But Kira said you have mouth and feet syndrome," Trini replied, confused. Kira wiped at her eyes as holding in her laughter was causing her eyes to tear up.

"No, sweetie," Kira said. "It's foot-in-mouth," she explained gently. Trini nodded, trying to understand.

"Oh, okay," she said.

"Like it makes a difference." Naomi giggled, causing herself and Kira to launch into yet another laughing fit. Conner groaned and slumped low in his seat, crossing his arms and pouting. Jason laughed and looked at Tommy.

"You've got yourself quite a group here, bro," Jason said. Tommy chuckled. Tommy sat back down as the six of them continued talking for another hour, most of which consisted of Naomi and Kira picking on Conner much to the current red ranger's chagrin. After a while, the others noticed that Trini had fallen asleep, curled up at Jason's side. Jason looked down at the sleeping child and smiled. To him, it felt like he just hadn't seen her in a few days, since he left her and Kimberly to meet Tommy and the other red rangers, but he could see the two years that had passed in her face, and oh how he had missed her. He had been there for Kimberly and Trini even before she was born; he was there to take her to the zoo or the circus when Kimberly needed to study for her medical exams and needed some peace and quiet. He never saw her like a daughter, partly because of the more brother and sister relationship he and Kimberly had which of course made him more of an uncle than anything else, but also something inside him told him that the role of father wasn't his to fill. Now, sitting here with Tommy, he knew without a single doubt that the role was tailor made for the former white ranger and no one else. It didn't matter that Mercer was the one with the biological connection to the girl. Tommy was Trini's father and that was that.

"Should we move her?" Kira asked softly, breaking Jason out of his reverie.

"I've got her," Tommy said as he went over to the bed and carefully ducked down, scooping up the sleeping child in his arms with Jason's help. Trini mumbled gently in her sleep and curled into her father's embrace, wrapping her little arms around his neck. Jason smirked a bit to himself, thinking about all the times in the past that Tommy had to gallantly carry Kimberly in the same fashion. _Like mother, like daughter, _he thought to himself as Tommy handed Trini off to Conner's awaiting arms and kissed the child's head, smoothing her hair. "Why don't you guys go one home," he said to the three teens. They all nodded and bid their farewells to Jason and Tommy before quietly leaving with Trini in tow. As soon as they were gone, Tommy looked back at his friend and saw Jason's smirk. "What?" Jason shook his head, smiling.

"Nothing," Jason said as Tommy resumed his seat. "I'm just………..It's good to see you and Trini together," he said. Tommy smiled a bit to himself. "She really does love you," Jason said. He had to admit to himself, a part of him was slightly jealous at having to, in a sense, share Trini. Sure, Zack was there for Kimberly and Trini as was the actual Trini. But with Zack off living his Broadway dreams, Jason was the one who spent the most time with Trini. He grew accustomed to being the adult male presence in the girl's life. But, it wasn't as if he thought this day would never come. He knew Kimberly would've eventually found someone to share her life with and whoever that would've been would love Trini as a daughter. If Kimberly and Tommy hadn't reunited, it would've been some other guy. And Jason was more than happy to see that it was Tommy who was the one Trini called 'daddy' and not some other guy who's love for Kimberly would've never compared to the love Jason knew Tommy always held for her.

"She's amazing," Tommy said after a while. "I mean, I know it's only been a few months since she and Kimberly came along but……it's like I can't remember what life was before it………and I don't think I want to, because I know it's nothing compared to this." Jason's smile widened.

"It feels natural," Jason stated. Tommy nodded.

"It does," Tommy replied. "The first time she called me 'daddy'……sure, I was surprised at first but not in a……..freaked out sort of way………just….I guess I didn't realize she had come to see me like that. But, yeah, it felt natural. It felt right."

"I'm glad," Jason said with a nod. "But, just so you know, as much as you're my bro……..Kim's like my sis and Trini's my niece…….You better take care of them, or else." Tommy looked at him.

"I plan on doing so," Tommy said in a serious tone. Jason smiled.

"I know you will man, just had to make sure that was clear," Jason said. Tommy nodded, smiling.

"I plan on taking care of them for as long as I live," he said softly to himself. He frowned, sighing as he slumped back in his chair. "I just……haven't been doing a great job of it." Jason sat up a bit and put a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Hey man, don't beat yourself up about that." He said. "Everything happens for a reason. You and Kimberly wouldn't have been brought back together just to be separated again. You two found your ways back to each other once, you'll do it again," Jason said. Tommy sighed, feeling a renewed sense of optimism from his friend's words. He couldn't believe it had been two years since they last saw each other. They still had the same closeness that they had had when they were teenagers, fighting side by side. But then again, that wasn't too surprising. The last time they had seen each other; their friendship flowed naturally even though they hadn't seen each other in over five years.

"Thanks, man," Tommy said. He looked at him, his pessimistic expression fading. "Anyway, don't you dare think you're going anywhere," he said. A part of him had picked up on Jason's feelings. He could tell that Jason believed that now that Tommy was in Trini's life, his role in the girl's life would lessen and he'd be put aside. This was the last thing Tommy wanted. "You're Trini's uncle. You were there for her and Kimberly when they needed you. You were in Trini's life way before I came along, so there's no chance you're getting forgotten," he said. Jason was a little surprised that Tommy had been perceptive enough to pick up on what he had been feeling. _Was I being that obvious? _He wondered as he thought back to just before when he held Trini to his side. "If anything," Tommy continued as he cut into Jason's contemplation. "I envy you," he said.

"You do?" Jason asked.

"Yeah. You've been there from the start as far as Trini's concerned. You were there when she was first learning to talk and walk and everything. You were there to help pick her up off the floor whenever she stumbled. I'm just some guy who came into her life a few months ago."

"No way," Jason assured him. "Just because you only met her a few months ago doesn't mean she didn't know about you. Tommy, Kim's loved you all these years and Trini's always known exactly who you were. I remember she'd sometimes ask me about you." Tommy was a little surprised. A part of him thought that that day in the grocery store was the first time she even knew he existed. Sure, she made mention of a picture Kimberly had but he figured it was just some group shot of Kimberly and her friends and he simply registered as someone her mother had once knew. "Besides," Jason said. "Sure, she's got her first words and first steps well out of the way but she's still got a whole lot of firsts ahead of her. And you're going to be there for each and every one of them." He said, giving Tommy's shoulder a friendly squeeze.

"So are you," Tommy said with a smile. The two mutually made peace with their own feelings of inadequacy and envy.

"Well," Jason said with a small chuckle. "If she's anything like her mother, you're going to need all the help you can get." Tommy laughed, while somewhat dreading the idea of having to build an electrified fence, with Jason's help of course, around the house just to keep teenage boys away when Trini reaches that age.


	16. Time For a Change

Conner drove the car back to Tommy's house after leaving Tommy and Jason at the hospital with Kira in the passenger seat and Naomi in the back with a sleeping Trini leaning against her.

"It's good that Jason's awake," Kira said softly, casting a look at Trini. Naomi nodded.

"Yeah," she replied, gently rubbing the sleeping child's arm.

"Maybe the extra hand will help us in finding Kim and Ethan." Conner commented. Kira nodded.

"Yeah, I mean from the stories I've heard, Jason and Dr. Hart are like siblings. You get the fiancé and the brother looking for her, there's no stopping them," she said with a smile. Naomi looked down.

"Yeah, let's hope that's enough for Ethan too," she muttered. Kira sighed. She looked back at her.

"It is," she said. "Because he's got us." Naomi nodded.

"I know." She replied softly. Silence enveloped the car as they drove the rest of the way and got to the house. Conner parked the car and shut it off.

"I'll get Trini," Conner offered as he got out of the car. He opened the back door and reached in, carefully carrying out the little girl as Kira and Naomi climbed out. Kira put her arm around Naomi.

"We will find them," Kira said after Conner walked in the house with Trini.

"Yeah, but the question is, when….and in what state," Naomi muttered to herself. Kira squeezed her friends shoulder.

"Don't worry." Naomi nodded and gently pulled Kira's arm off her.

"Listen, I think I'm going to go home," she said. "I uh…..you know, been here for some time now, guess it'd be a good idea to check in………" She forced on a tight smile. "Y'know, with my parents." In her mind, she wondered what business trip or outing they were on this time that made them not wonder where she could be. Maybe they were home but just didn't care.

"Oh," Kira said. "Well…..Conner can drive you," Kira said. Naomi shook her head, taking a step away.

"It's fine, I'm in the mood to walk," she said. Kira looked at her.

"Naomi," she said. "Are you sure you want to be alone?" Kira asked. Naomi turned around and began walking away.

"Tell everyone I'll be back later…..or something," she called back as she walked away. Kira sighed.

"Alright, well call if you need anything!" Kira replied.

"Yeah, sure," Naomi replied. Kira turned and walked into the house where she saw Conner coming down the stairs.

"Sleeping kid is in bed," he said with a smile. "Where's Naomi?"

"She went home…I think," she said.

"You think?" Conner asked. Kira shook her head, trying to clear away her doubts.

"I mean, yeah, she went home, yeah," Kira said. "She said she needed to check in with her parents……and she wanted to walk."

"Oh," Conner replied. He shrugged before sitting down on the couch. Kira went over and joined him. "I kind of envy her," Conner said. "I mean, her parents must be really cool to just let her be away from home without calling every five seconds or demanding she comes home."

"Yeah, I guess," Kira said. "But at the same time, not having your parents worry would really bother me." Kira replied. Conner nodded thoughtfully.

"I guess you're right," he said. "I mean, with my dad being…….well, the way he is……if my mom every stopped being her too involved self, I'd probably lose my mind," he said, chuckling a bit. Kira reached over and took his hand.

"Have you heard from him? I mean…"

"Since he tried to get me to leave Reefside because he thought being around my gay twin brother would gay-ify me?" Conner asked. "No," he replied. Kira sighed.

"I guess that's good thing." She replied. Conner nodded.

"Yeah. I mean, if my dad can't love both of his sons for who they are, Eric and I don't need him." Kira nodded before putting her head on his shoulder. Conner smiled and put an arm around her shoulders. "Especially not when I've got you," he said. Kira laughed.

"You're so corny," she said. Conner grinned.

"I do try." He replied. "It gives me a chance to take a break from my naturally charming persona," he added. Kira snorted.

"Naturally charming? Uh huh, yeah sure," she replied. Conner's mouth dropped open.

"You don't find me charming?" He questioned. Kira giggled.

"Hmm, now that I think about it, I'm not so sure," she teased. Conner threw her a playful glare.

"Not sure?" He asked. "Not sure? Well, if I'm not charming, how'd I manage to sweep you off your feet, hmm?" He asked.

"Well, I've always had a thing for goofballs," she replied. Conner narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, that's cold," he said. Kira grinned.

"But you love me." She countered playfully. Conner pouted.

"Well, maybe I'm not so sure about that anymore," he replied. Kira rolled her eyes. "Maybe you should remind me," he said, grinning slightly. Kira turned towards him and gave him a slow smile.

"Oh?" She asked innocently. "And how should I remind you?" She asked while shifting so she was now sitting on his lap. Conner smiled.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll think of something," he replied. Kira giggled and put her arms around his neck.

"How's this?" She asked. Conner made an uncertain face as he put his hands on her hips.

"Hmm, getting there, but I don't think I fully remember yet," he said. Kira leaned forward and kissed his neck.

"Any better?" She asked.

"Hmm, getting closer," Conner grinned. Kira giggled and moved up, kissing his jaw line.

"And that?"

"Almost," Conner replied. Kira sighed and sat up.

"Well, gosh, I really don't know how to remind you," she playfully fretted. Conner thought about it for a moment.

"Hmm...Maybe like this." He replied pressing his lips to hers. Kira giggled against his lips.

"Ah," she said. "Now why didn't I think of that?" She asked. Conner chuckled.

"I'm sure it would've come to you eventually," he said in a husky tone before turning so that he was now lying on the couch with her on top of him. Kira laughed again.

"Maybe." She replied kissing him lightly. "Or maybe not." She winked.

"Well, then it's a good thing I'm the brains of this operation, then," he teased before capturing her lips in his own again. Kira went to give a playful protest but Conner's hand his hand on the back of her head, holding her to him as they kissed while the other held her around her waist. Something inside of Kira clicked and suddenly her playful feelings were replaced with panic.

"Conner," she tried to say but her words were muffled by his lips. She felt like she couldn't escape him. Tears entered her eyes as her arms quickly pulled away from his neck as she tried to push away from him. Conner's brow's furrowed at the feel of her hands shoving against his chest and he let go of her head, letting her pull away from the kiss.

"Kira?" He asked softly, seeing the tears in her eyes. Kira quickly got out of his hold and sat up, moving to the other end of the couch as Conner sat up. "Kira, what is it?" He asked worriedly. Kira wiped at her eyes and shook her head.

"It's nothing, I'm fine," she said. Conner shifted closer to her.

"You don't usually break out into tears when we kiss, so something tells me you're not fine," he said. Kira shook her head.

"It's not important." She replied. Conner reached a tentative hand towards her and tucked some hair behind her ear.

"Why don't you let me be the judge of that?" He asked. Kira flinched and pulled away.

"Don't touch me." She whispered, tears leaking down her cheeks. Conner quickly pulled his hand back and moved away from her on the couch, fearing that if he was too close he'd upset her even more.

"Okay," he said gently. "Okay I won't," he said. "Just, tell me what's wrong, Kira," he pleaded. "You're starting to freak me out here," he said, smiling a bit to her hoping that she'd catch the joke and it'd make her laugh and relax a little. His smile faded when he saw that it hadn't worked and she simply sat there, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Was it….was it something I said?" He asked. "I mean….that thing about me being the brains…I was joking….And apparently me making that joke just further shows how much I'm not the brains here," he said, chuckling to himself. Kira shook her head.

"That's not it." She whispered.

"Okay," Conner said, he was somewhat relived at that but was still worried about whatever it was that had put Kira in such a state. "Look, whatever it is, you can tell me….I mean-"

"It's nothing," Kira insisted. "Just forget it."

"Well, it's kind of hard to forget seeing as you're freaking out," Conner replied. Kira sighed and got up from the couch.

"God, you just don't know when to stop, do you?" She snapped. She turned away, her back facing him as she wiped at her cheeks. "You're just like him," she whimpered.

"Like wh-" He stopped once her words processed in his mind and he was forced to think about what she was saying. "Wait a minute," he said quickly, jumping to his feet. "You're not……you're not trying to say that me wanting to know what's bothering you is like that guy, are you?" He asked, his voice a mixture of offended and hurt. Kira spun around, her breath hitching in her throat before she sunk to her knees, sobbing. Conner's eyes widened and he quickly went to her side, going down to his knees. He moved to put his arms around her but stopped, afraid that'd only make things worse. "Kira," he said softly, "I……you've got to know I'd never do something like that to you," he said. He sighed, closing his eyes. "And…if you don't, then maybe we shouldn't…be together," he said. The words tasted like venom in his mouth as he said them. There was nothing in him that wanted to say them but if she actually thought he would be the type to hurt her than she didn't know him at all and there was no sense in them being together. Kira continued to sob and Conner sighed. He ran a hand over his face before he slowly placed his hand on Kira's shoulder. When she didn't flinch at his touch, he smiled slowly. "Okay," he muttered, though more to himself, "guess that's a good sign," he said. Kira slowly looked up at him.

"I'm sorry," she said. Conner shook his head.

"You have NOTHING to be sorry for." He replied softly. Kira looked down and shifted so she was now sitting on the floor instead of on her knees.

"I just….freaked out a bit…….when we were kissing……I just……." She muttered, wiping at her cheeks. Conner sighed as he finally understood. Sure, what he had said hadn't upset her, just something he **did**.

"Kira, I'm so sorry," he said. "I…….I didn't think, I'm an idiot," he muttered, chastising himself. Kira didn't respond. She simply leaned against him and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face in his stomach as she cried. Conner sighed and put his arms around her, rubbing small circles on her back. They stayed in the same position for a few moments before Conner spoke. "I really am sorry." He whispered. He felt Kira shake her head against him.

"It wasn't your fault," she said, her voice muffled by his shirt. She sniffled before lifting her head up to look at him. "I know….Conner; I know you wouldn't do that. I just," she sighed, looking down. "I guess it was just….fresh in my mind since we talked about it last night…and I just…..overreacted." Conner continued to rub her back.

"You have every right to freak out." He murmured. Kira shifted in his arms so she was now sitting at his level and put her head on his shoulder.

"Not to you," she said, closing her eyes. "You're nothing like him…..and I know that….." Conner kissed the side of her forehead.

"I shouldn't have been so…." He let his voice trail off as he tried to think of the right word. "So…..well, so," he said, giving up on finding the right phrase. Kira gave a soft chuckle.

"Desperate?" She asked. Conner rolled his eyes.

"I prefer enamored," he replied. Kira sighed and shifted in his arm, snuggling deeper into his embrace.

"Yeah, I think I prefer that too," she said. Conner smiled and held her closer.

--

Naomi walked into the hair salon and beauty supply store in town. She'd heard about this place from Beverly and other girls at school. It was owned by a small group of stylists who, instead of going to work under someone at an already established hair salon, decided to open their own business and be their own collective bosses. The establishment was really more store than salon, with aisles and a cash register, but had a few styling chairs in the back which was where the workers would do their magic using the same products they were selling. Naomi reasoned that whatever it lacked in aesthetics as far as not looking like a real hair salon, it made up for in being practical. The women had all sorts of dyes, creams and things right at their fingertips, lessening the need to run out to get them if they ran out of a jar, bottle or can of anything.

Naomi stared around the place with wide eyed wonder. There were wigs, blow dryers, flat irons, hair creams, special brushes and a wide assortment of different types of make up all over the place and Naomi was at a complete loss in terms of which aisle she should go down. Her talk with Dr. Oliver had made her think about all the changes that'd gone on in her life since moving to Reefside. She thought about how she didn't really feel like the same person anymore and it felt weird to wake up every morning, feeling the changes within her, but not seeing them when she looked in the mirror. She wanted to change something, she just wasn't sure what.

"Can I help you?" Came a voice. Naomi spun around, the voice startling her. She saw a Hispanic woman with an olive like complexion and hair dyed a rich caramel color done up in a pony tail at the top of her head that had her ends reaching down her shoulders. She wore some heavy make up but it didn't look at all garish and looked to have been done with a touch of expertise. She was dressed in a tight white shirt and jeans. The woman smiled at her. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Naomi gave her a small smile.

"No, it's my fault….was just…um…distracted," she said, adjusting her glasses a bit. The woman nodded.

"I see," she said. "Well, is there anything I can help you with?" She asked. Naomi blinked.

"Uh…well…I don't know," she replied honestly. "I'm just….looking for something," she said. The woman smiled at Naomi.

"Well, we have a wide range of that... But you'll have to narrow it down a bit." She smiled. Naomi chuckled a bit.

"I'm looking to do something different." She replied honestly. The woman nodded.

"You'd be surprised how often I hear that." She replied. "Anything particular you have in mind?" She asked. Naomi bit her lip and gave her an apologetic look.

"I don't know……..I guess…….something permanent….or, well, you know…..big…." Naomi said. The woman nodded.

"Uh huh," she said. "Okay, anything else?"

"Uh….I guess….my hair?" Naomi said, uncertain. "I mean…..I guess….do something with it…….that'd be big, right?" The woman nodded.

"All right then, now we're getting somewhere," she said with a smile. "Well, there are a lot of things you can do. You could get it cut, or dyed, or have a perm put in, or extensions," she said, studying Naomi's hair and complexion as she came up with different suggestions for the girl. "Anything sound good?" She asked. Naomi blinked.

"Uh……I don't know….." She chuckled. "I'm not exactly an expert at…..this sort of stuff….I just got the hang of make up about a month ago," she said. The woman chuckled.

"Sounds like you do need help then," she said.

"That's putting it mildly," Naomi sighed. The woman nodded and put a hand on her shoulder.

"All right then, come on, let Milagros work her magic," she said with a smile. She gave her a quick wink. "I'm Milagros by the way." Naomi laughed.

"Naomi," she said. Milagros nodded and let her to the back of the store where the hair salon part of the business was located. Once they got there, Naomi saw a row of styling chairs set in front of a counter with a long mirror that took up the whole back wall. Off to the right there where three deep sinks with chairs in front of them and to the left, a few chairs with hair dryers connected to them. Naomi saw two of the dryers being occupied by a pair of older women with curlers in their hair who were chatting together. Over by the styling chairs, one was being used by an African American girl about Naomi's age having thin braids put in her hair by another stylist; another was being used by a younger girl who was having her dark hair cut by another stylist. Milagros led Naomi over to the end of the row where one unoccupied chair remained. She had Naomi sit down before disappearing.

"Naomi?" Someone beside her said. Naomi turned to see Beverly in the chair beside her, her hair being worked at with a flat iron. Naomi smiled.

"Oh, hey Bev," she said.

"Fancy seeing you here," Beverly said, returning the smile. "What are you getting done?" She asked.

"Uh," Naomi replied, with a shrug, "I'm not sure," she chuckled. As if on cue, Milagros returned with a big binder and placed it on Naomi's lap.

"Here you go, sweetie," she said. "Just look through some styles in here and see if there's anything you like."

"Oh, um, thanks," Naomi said, opening up the binder.

"I'll be right back, need to check on the front," she said before disappearing again. Beverly reached over and put a hand on Naomi's hand.

"Oh, you're in such good hands. Mila is amazing," she said.

"Ahem," the stylist who was working on Beverly said a playfully miffed expression on her face. Beverly giggled.

"Oh, but not as amazing as you, Liz," she said.

"That's more like it, girlie," Liz replied. Naomi chuckled as she began to flip through the book that Mila had left her with. She saw pictures of models with all sorts of different hair styles and colors. Every so often, she'd gaze up from the pages to look in the mirror, trying to imagine herself with the looks she was seeing. She ran her fingers through her straight red hair, imagining what it'd look like if it were different shades of red, brown, blonde or even the more extreme looks like blue, purple and even more bright and vibrant shades of red. She then shifted her hair over her shoulders. As it was, the tips of her hair went down to her chest; she contemplated different lengths, trying to see what would look best.

"Oh hey, where have you been lately anyway?" Came Beverly's voice beside her. Naomi blinked and looked at her. "I haven't seen you in school lately."

"Oh," Naomi said, "uh," she went on, shrugging, "just…..ya know…..been a little bad. You know how it is, when it gets to the end of the year, you just want school to end so badly you take a few personal days," she said with a chuckle. Beverly laughed as Liz finished up her 'do.

"Yeah, I get it," she said. She went to pick up her purse from the floor and set it on her lap. "You're a braver girl than I am. If I cut school, my parents would kill me," she said as she located her wallet in her bag. Naomi blinked and looked down.

"Yeah," she said softly. "Uh…my parents have been out of town. You know how it is, when the parents are away, the kid will play," she said. Beverly laughed again and fished out some money from her wallet to pay Liz.

"Thanks, Liz," she said. Liz smiled at her as she took the money.

"Any time, hun," she said. Beverly hopped off the chair.

"Same time next week?" She said. Liz nodded.

"Sure thing, let me just put you in my appointment book," she said as she went off to find the aforementioned book. Beverly looked at Naomi.

"Hey, speaking of play, you should so throw a party. No parents could be fun," she said, grinning a bit. Naomi chuckled.

"I'm not that brave," she said. Beverly pouted.

"Oh well," she said. "See you around I guess," she said. Naomi nodded.

"Yeah…see ya," she said. Beverly gave her one last smile before she went over to Liz to bid her farewell and left. Naomi sighed and went back to looking through the book. She turned the page and stopped as she came upon a look. It seemed to call to her. It was very different, nothing like her current look at all, but not too extreme. She smiled.

"So," Milagros said as she returned and stood behind Naomi. "Made any decisions?" Naomi looked up at her and nodded.

"Yeah," she pointed to the picture she had been looking at. "What do you think of this? Can I pull it off?" She asked. Milagros looked at the picture before looking at Naomi, studying her facial structure and her hair, pondering if the look she wanted could work. She smiled.

"I think you'll look fabulous," she said. Naomi smiled as Milagros reached over and took the book out of her way. "Come on, let's get started," she said, patting Naomi on the shoulder before leading her over to where the sinks were so she could wash Naomi's hair.

--

"So, got any plans….now that you're on the mend?" Tommy asked. He and Jason had been sitting in Jason's hospital room talking. They had been laughing and reminiscing over old times and talking about their other friends.

"Not sure yet," Jason replied. "Figured I'd stay here, help out with stuff," he said with a shrug. Tommy smiled.

"Yeah, I'd like that," he said. "There's an extra room at the house. It's not exactly inhabitable right now since it's been used for storage, but I could get it cleared out in a few days," she said.

"Nah, bro, you don't have to do that. You've got more important things to worry about. I can just stay at a hotel."

"No way," Tommy said, shaking his head. "Besides," he said after a moment, "it'll help keep me sane. If I just stay in the lab looking over the scans day in and day out, I'll go nuts. Doing other stuff will help. Anyway," he went on with a smile, "I think Trini would like to have her Uncle Jason around." Jason grinned.

"That'd be awesome to be around her again... It's been so long." He replied honestly. He sighed. "I mean, sure, I've been….out of it…..so it feels like just yesterday….but I look at her, she's not the little five year old girl watching Sesame Street or Barney anymore. She's older……it's weird. She's in school now…" It had been right after Trini's fifth birthday that Jason was put into the coma. He remembered Kimberly was stressing over picking out the right kindergarten for her daughter. His memories felt like a movie. Like he'd been sitting in the audience, watching it and stepped out for a bit to get a refill on snacks and came back, missing a huge part of what had happened to him and especially what had happened to those he loved as they had to go on with their lives without him. "What grade is she in now?" Jason asked.

"She'll be in third this fall," Tommy replied. Jason gave a low whistle.

"Wow," he said. There was silence between them for a few minutes before Jason spoke again. "I just can't believe she's grown up so much... Soon she'll be in high school and she'll be a rebellious teenager." He joked, before sobering again. Tommy chuckled.

"Hey I think we've got at least another six years until we've got to worry about that," he said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Six years that you'll be apart of now," he reminded him. Jason smiled, nodding.

"You're right," he said. Tommy grinned.

"Of course I'm right." He replied. Jason sighed.

"I just wish I could remember what happened to me….how I got in the coma." Tommy sighed.

"Kim said you went rock climbing not long after you got back from the red ranger mission," he explained. "Your rope snapped and you fell…it's a miracle you survived at all," he paused for a moment. "Kim……she wasn't all that convinced it was an accident, though," he said. Jason looked at him.

"What do you mean?" He asked. Tommy sighed.

"She thought…….thinks……that…Trin's father….cut your rope," he said. Jason blinked as he looked away, thinking back.

"I don't know," he said after a moment. "I mean……yeah, Tony was giving us some trouble…..I really wouldn't put it past him to do it……Wish I knew for sure." Tommy looked down. "What is it?"

"You should know…..Tony…..he's here in Reefside," Tommy said. Jason raised his eyebrows in astonishment. "Well, I mean, he was here," Tommy amended. "His real name is Anton Mercer….and he's…..well….Messogog…." Jason stared at him.

"Wait, hang on….Messogog, that's the guy you told me about before, the new bag guy in town that got sucked into wherever Kimberly and your blue ranger are….right?" Tommy gave a slow nod. Jason was silent for a moment before speaking again.

"And you just felt the need to inform me of this now?" He demanded, anger rising in his voice. Tommy sighed.

"I thought you needed to know all the facts," he said. Jason glared at him.

"Well instead of sitting here, giving me a blow by blow, why aren't you out there trying to find her. She's stuck god knows where with the psycho who may or may not have tried to kill me, not to mention he's the big bad evil you've been fighting against."

"Hang on," Tommy replied sharply, not liking the sound of Jason's tone. He didn't appreciate that Jason was implying that Tommy was doing nothing. "We've been trying to find her, running the dimensional scans. It's all we can do right now. And besides, you and I both know Kim's strong, she can-"

"And how strong is she these days, carrying your kid inside of her?" Jason hissed. Tommy shut his mouth. "Did you think about that?"

"You think I don't know that?" Tommy said. "Yeah, she's not exactly at top fighting form in her current condition, but you're forgetting one thing. She's not alone. Ethan's a good kid and a good ranger. I'm sure he's looking out for her."

"But he's still just a kid. A kid who got himself stuck in some other dimension. Obviously he's but so good of a ranger." Tommy narrowed his eyes. It was one thing for Jason to doubt him, but he wasn't going to sit there and let Jason rag on one of his rangers, a ranger he didn't even know.

"You hold it right there," Tommy said firmly. "Ethan is a good ranger, and he 'got himself stuck in some other dimension' while trying to do what all us rangers do—protecting someone. Messogog was trying to hurt Naomi, someone Ethan cares for deeply, so Ethan did what he had to do to protect her." Tommy sighed. "Just like Kim. If she'd climbed up to me first, she and I could've pulled Trini up together. But she couldn't risk the thought of the cage falling with Trini still in it." Jason was quiet as he watched Tommy sitting there, tiredly rubbing his face.

"These past few days haven't been easy on you, huh?" Jason asked, though he knew the answer to that.

"It's like back when we were rangers," Tommy said. "Only….more intense. Conner, Kira, everyone….they're looking at me, trying to figure out what to do…….And I have no fucking idea what to do," he muttered. "So you're just flying by the seat of your pants to try and figure it out?" Jason ventured. Tommy nodded.

"Seems like it, yeah." He replied. He looked at Jason. "The dimensional scans, they're not turning up anything right now…but it's all we can do. Something tells me even if we took one of Mesogog's lackeys and tried to beat any information out of them or something….it wouldn't do us any good." He paused for a moment. "I want Kimberly back here just as much as you do."

"No you don't," Jason replied. Tommy's eyes went wide and he stared at his friend in shock and anger, which was only met with Jason giving him a sideways smile. "I'm betting you want her back a bit more than I do," he said, chuckling. Tommy closed his eyes as he gave a chuckle, shaking his head.

"Funny," he said. Jason grinned.

"I try," he said. He sighed. "I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have gotten on you like that. I know you're doing everything you can to find her. I guess I'm just….Well, haven't seen her in two years, have I?" He said, chuckling a bit. "Just worried about her, want to make sure she's okay." Tommy nodded, understanding.

"I understand that." Tommy replied. "She'll be okay," he said, nodding. "She's a tough one, and she's got Ethan there with her, and they'll be back……soon," he said, trying to assure himself just as much as Jason. Jason nodded.

--

"There we go," Milagros said as she put the finishing touches on Naomi's hair, flipping the ends a bit. "All done," she smiled. Naomi looked up at the mirror and slipped her glasses, which she'd had to take off during the entire process, to get a better look at herself. Her eyebrows went up a bit at what she saw.

"Wow," she breathed out.

"Everything all right?" Milagros asked. Naomi looked at her and smiled.

"It's….great….I'm just….wow, it's different," she said. She looked at her reflection and lightly touched her hair, smiling at what she saw. "Do you like it?" She questioned. Naomi was silent for a minute before nodding.

"I love it." She replied. Milagros smiled.

"Good," she said. "And just so you now, we've got a special here. Twenty percent off any purchases up front on your first visit," she said. "In case you want anything to keep your new 'do in tip top shape," she said. Naomi smiled and nodded.

"Thanks," she said. She got up from the chair and paid Milagros what she owed for her hair. "Thanks so much for this," Naomi said as she handed her the money. Milagros smiled.

"No thanks needed, sweetie," she said. "Now, come back and see me whenever you need a touch up or trim, got it?" She said in playful seriousness. Naomi grinned.

"Of course," she said. Milagros looked over as a customer ventured into the back.

"Oh, sorry, my next appointments here," she said, looking back at Naomi.

"I should get going anyway," Naomi said. "See ya around," she said. Milagros smiled and nodded, waving goodbye to her as Naomi walked up to the front of the store. She walked around the store and settled on getting some color care shampoo and conditioner and a few of what little styling products she had heard of before in her lifetime before paying for her purchases and leaving the store. The second she stepped outside, the breeze blew through her hair, as if underlining the change she'd just endured. The procedure had been uncomfortable and made her momentarily regret stepping into the establishment, but after seeing the end result, she was glad she did. Naomi smiled a bit to herself and walked home, deciding to drop her purchases before going to show the others her new look.


	17. Tempers Flare

Note from 'Z': Hey all! Yup, 'Syd' and I are still alive and still writing together, so in case anyone was worried otherwise (perhaps more so the latter), worry no more! Anywhoo, for those who've been waiting a while for a new Barely Breathing chapter, sorry for making you wait so long and hope you still love us haha. Well, without further adieu, we present you the next chapter of Barely Breathing—

-----------------------------------

"Anything?" Hayley asked. Trent had come down to help look for Kimberly and Ethan. He'd been staring at the large computer screen in the base for most of the time he'd been there. Hayley had figured it best not to engage him. Superficially, she'd say it was to leave him with his, no doubt, jumbled thoughts and search his scrambled memory as he looked at the dimensional grid. But, a part of it was out of fear. As much as he seemed to be okay, maybe even good, Hayley couldn't look at him without seeing the large sentry who blocked her, Kimberly, Trini and Naomi from leaving her café that fateful night. She could still feel Trent's hand clamping around her throat before he flung her away like a rag doll.

Trent shook his head. "Nothing yet." He replied as he continued his search. He hesitated to turn and look at Hayley to give her the information. He knew that everyone was avoiding him, and keeping him here. He clicked a few more times, before sighing. "I'm sorry," he finally said with a defeated tone. He sighed again and put his elbows up on the console, resting his head in his hands. "None of this…none of this makes any sense, it's not like I recognize anything." He shook his head. His memories, what few of them he could make sense, squeezed his heart. "By the time my d…..he…..was doing all this, I was…….too far gone to be aware of anything." Hayley's heart went out to the teenager. He was trying his hardest, despite everything.

"It's not your fault Trent. You're doing everything you can to help." Trent gave a self deprecating scoff before looking up at Hayley.

"Isn't it my fault?" He asked. His breath caught in his throat the second his eyes landed on her face as a memory crept into his mind. He quickly looked away, down to the console. "If I hadn't…..been there that night……if I hadn't blocked the exit to the café……..none of this would've happened," he spoke softly. Hayley took a deep breath.

"You remember that night," she said. She'd meant it as a question but it left her lips as a statement of fact. Trent nodded.

"Well," he clarified, "it's like everything else…bits and pieces….but…yeah, I remember…." He shot a guilty look her direction, avoiding her face. Hayley paused for a moment, thinking.

"Trent, we've all made mistakes. What's important is that we acknowledge that, and move forward."

"What if it's not that easy?" He asked. He gave a wry chuckle. "No one here is exactly scrambling to give the go ahead for me to move forward. No matter what, I'm still the person who was a part of all this, who hurt Naomi, Kira, you…….The person who didn't exactly make any attempts to save Ethan and Dr. Hart successful."

"Give them some time," Hayley suggested. "You've got to imagine how hard this has to be…Even if you are your real self, it's going to be hard-" Her sentence was cut short by Trent suddenly rising to his feet and turning to her. Out of instinct, Hayley recoiled in her seat.

"_Even if_?" He hissed. "So, what, you all think I'm still my father's lapdog?" He asked. "You think I'm still one of them?!"

"Trent, I'm sorry...It was a slip." She replied, trying to push herself backwards. Trent's eyes widened as he looked at her, really saw her and saw how he must've looked right then. He took a step back and turned away.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…I didn't mean to…" He sighed and ran his hand tiredly over his face. "That's not…that's not me, I'm just…I'm sorry," he said. Hayley let out a shaky breath before nodding.

"It's okay." She replied honestly. Trent shook his head.

"No it's not," he said. He sat back down. "Maybe I should just go to…Elsa and Zeltrax and let them re-do whatever the hell it was that made me like that." Hayley blinked.

"Is that what you want?" She asked. "To be under their control, not knowing what you're doing, just some mindless ape?" Trent closed his eyes and took his breath.

"Right now, I think I'd take mindless over having to deal with all this….guilt and everything."

"Guilt is a part of life." She countered.

"Yeah, but to this degree?" He argued. Hayley sighed and gave him a slow nod.

"Okay, yes, you're dealing with an exceptionally large case of it," Hayley answered. "No one's arguing that." She slowly rose to her feet. Without thinking she made her way over to him. A part of her still feared him, but another part, a part that was overwhelming that, wanted to reach out to him. He was alone, she could see that. She could also see that he needed someone, someone to lean on or at least show they cared about him. She carefully placed a hand on his shoulder. She felt him slightly tense in surprise beneath her touch. "All the more reason why you should see this as a chance to build upon yourself. Show your inner strength by persevering, not giving up and taking what seems like the easy way out." She felt the tense muscles underneath her hand slowly ease. Hayley was glad to see her attempt to reach out to him seemed to work.

"Thanks," he said after a deep breath. Hayley nodded.

"Hey," she said, giving his shoulder a squeeze. "We've been at this for some time, how about we take a lunch break?" She suggested. Trent nodded.

"Sounds good to me," he said. Hayley nodded. She made her way to the stairs out of the basement with Trent following her. They made their way to the kitchen, where they saw Conner and Kira sitting together having lunch. The second Trent entered the room, Conner, who's expression had been jovial as he was caught mid joke with his girlfriend, turned into a hard sneer.

"What are you doing out of the dungeon?" He snapped at Trent. Trent clenched his fists at his hand. A myriad of possible actions ran through his head. A part of him wanted to snap back at Conner, another wanted to turn and run back to the underground lab, and another wanted to just use this as his chance to leave.

"Conner, stop." Hayley commented.

"Oh what, you're a Monkey Boy sympathizer too?" Conner said, rolling his eyes at Hayley. Hayley shot a look at him.

"Because you've never screwed up Conner." Conner opened his mouth to shoot off a reply but was stopped by Kira putting a hand on his arm.

"Conner," she stepped in, "why don't you go up and check on Trini," she pointedly suggested. Conner gave her a look that suggested he had little intention to leave, but Kira returned the look with a slight glare. Conner sighed and nodded.

"I see I'm reduced to kid duty in Naomi's absence," he muttered as he got up and left. Kira just rolled her eyes as he exited the room, glaring at Trent. Trent let out a breath and sat down at the kitchen table.

"Thanks," he said. Kira blinked and looked at him.

"Don't mention it," she replied. Trent nodded. Kira narrowed her eyes. "Seriously, don't mention it," she said. She had thought she could be diplomatic and neutral towards Trent, but having him sitting across a table from her told her she couldn't. In her mind, he was no better than Harold, and she needed to get away. "I'm going to go help Conner with Trini, he can be all thumbs with kids," she hurriedly muttered before making a quick exit. Trent's mouth fell open slightly as Kira darted from the room. He thought that with her defending him, she might be on his side, or at least willing to listening...But apparently not. Hayley saw his expression and sighed, taking a seat next to him.

"As much as it sucks, those two are probably up there on the list of people who you're going to have to be the most patient with if you hope for them to forgive you," she said. Trent sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, I know," he said softly. "I just thought…maybe people would understand that…I had no control over it…" He looked at Hayley. "I swear, Hayley, it wasn't me. It was all the gem, you've got to belie-" Hayley held up a hand.

"I know, Trent," she said softly. "But unfortunately a big white gem didn't mess with Conner's car and cause it to crash," she said sadly. "It was you, being controlled by the gem yes, but still. They can't be angry at a gem, they can't be wary of a gem. For now, all the things the gem did, you have the misfortune of being held at fault for in their eyes."

"That's comforting," Trent sighed.

-----------------------

Upstairs, Kira and Conner sat by a still sleeping Trini's bed.

"I figured that you'd still be downstairs talking to the traitor." Conner whispered angrily. Kira sighed.

"Okay, technically he's not a traitor," she whispered. "I mean, a traitor implies he was actually on our side at one point and then turned baddie."

"As supposed to once being a friend and then turning baddie?" Conner countered.

"Touché," she said. They were both silent for a moment before Kira spoke again. "Look, I thought that I might be able to get past it, but I can't. But he might have information or ideas on where we can find Ethan and Kim...We need to be somewhat civil to him at least."

"I think the fact that I wasn't pouncing on him and beating him to a pulp was civil enough for me," Conner muttered. Kira sighed and placed a hand on his arm.

"Conner, please. If he thinks we're the enemy, what's to stop him from not helping us or even worse going to Elsa and Zeltrax?" Conner said nothing, so Kira continued. "He knows too much about us... If he were to go to Elsa and Zeltrax..." She trailed off, and Conner nodded.

"I know the consequences of that Kira." He sighed. "I mean all we have right now is that they don't know where our base is. If Trent went trotting back to them, he could tell them exactly where to find us," he noted. Kira nodded.

"And we can't have that, I mean it'd be one thing if our base was…" she paused, shrugging, "I guess Cyberspace or something," she said, "but not here, not with.." her voice trailed off as she tilted her head towards the sleeping child. Conner nodded, knowing what she meant. It would be one thing if the only people put in danger if their location went to enemy ears were Tommy, himself, and Kira…even if the idea of having Kira in danger bothered Conner immensely. It was a whole other thing to put Trini in danger if her home became primary target number one. All further conversation was cut off as Trini, as if knowing she was being talked about, slowly roused from sleep. She opened her eyes and sleepily looked up at Conner and Kira. Kira smiled and gently touched the child's forehead.

"Hey there sleepy, have a good nap?" She softly asked. Trini nodded in response. She stretched slightly before looking at Kira.

"Can I have a snack?"

"Sure," she said. She went to suggest they go down to the kitchen before remembering Trent was there. She didn't think Trini would understand him sitting at the kitchen table as if all was well. "How about I go get it for you?" She suggested. Trini slowly sat up.

"Okay," she agreed. Kira smiled.

"Alright, you just stay here with Conner and I'll go get us all a nice little snack," she said before standing up. Trini turned and looked at Conner.

"Wanna play house?" She asked. Kira covered her mouth to muffle her giggles at Conner's horror-stricken face as she left the room.

"Um….okay," she heard him say as she walked down the stairs. Kira reached the bottom of the stairs and went to head to the kitchen when she saw the front door opened. She paused as she saw a head of short nearly platinum blonde hair walk in. Kira's eyes widened.

"Excuse me wha-" her voice cut off as the person looked up and shut the door behind her. "Oh my god," she blurted out. Naomi blushed at Kira's comment.

"Do you like it?" She questioned. Kira blinked.

"I think I'm still getting over the shock," she muttered without thinking. Naomi's face fell. Kira quickly shook her head. "No, I mean….yeah……it looks good…..just…..really unexpected," she said. "Wha….I mean….why…?" Naomi chuckled.

"Well, I'd heard somewhere that blondes have more fun, thought I'd test that theory," she joked. Kira smiled.

"We do have more fun..." She replied. Now over her initial shock, Kira took in Naomi's new look. Her formerly long red locks were dyed light blonde, lighter than Kira's own blonde hair. The length had been reduced from its mid-back reach to coming just at the middle of her neck. Her hair was now layered, with long bangs reaching the sides of her eyes. "What brought this on?" Kira curiously asked. Naomi gave a nonchalant shrug.

"Felt like a change," she replied.

"Quite a change," Kira remarked. Naomi chuckled.

"I figured that if I was going to change it at all, it should be drastic." She replied.

"Well, you certainly achieved that," Kira stated. "I almost didn't recognize you." Naomi grinned.

"Good to know." She laughed. Kira eyed her for a moment as Naomi absentmindedly twirled the back ends of her hair in her finger, getting used to its new length.

"Can I ask why you needed to make such a change?" Kira asked. She couldn't help but feel a little worried. Naomi had been spending most of the time under a dark cloud of despair over Ethan's disappearance, Kira couldn't help but wonder there was more to this change. Naomi sighed.

"Jeez, Kira, can we quit with the line of questioning? If you think my hair sucks just say it," she muttered before walking past her to the kitchen. Kira's mouth fell open as Naomi walked past her.

"Naomi, I don't think your hair sucks." She replied.

"Alright then quit harping on it. I told you I felt like a change, no need to analyze it to death," she said. She stopped as she saw Trent and Hayley sitting at the kitchen table. Both seemed to share Kira's surprised looks. Naomi rolled her eyes and walked to the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water. Hayley opened her mouth to say something but caught a warning look from Kira. Hayley cleared her throat and rethought of what she should say.

"Love the hair," she finally said. Naomi gave her a skeptical look, preparing for her to question her like Kira had. Hayley gave her a smile. "I mean, kind of sad I'm back to being the lone redhead of the group," she kidded, "but the new look suits you," she said. Naomi smiled.

"Thank you, _Hayley_," Naomi said.

"No problem." She replied honestly. Kira sighed and walked to one of the kitchen cabinets to find an appropriate snack for Trini. Trent remained silent through the entire ordeal. Kira found a box of Ritz crackers and set a bunch on a plate before finding some fruit in the fridge to add in as well.

"Where's Trini?" Naomi commented.

"Upstairs in her room, with Conner," Kira replied as she busied herself with arranging the food on the plate in a cute design for the little girl. Naomi nodded, understanding without being told that Kira and Conner were watching her for the time being.

"If you want, I can take that up to her and you and Conner can go off and do something," she offered. Kira shook her head.

"That's okay," she replied before picking up the plate. Without another word she left the kitchen. The room remained silent until they heard Trini's door click shut again. Naomi sighed.

"Well, I guess I'm not needed," she muttered. Hayley gave her a sympathetic look.

"Hey, you can come down and help us with the dimensional scans," she offered. Naomi cast her a look before looking at Trent. On one hand there was the plan she had discussed with Conner, about gaining Trent's trust, but on the other hand, Naomi wasn't sure if she was ready to put that plan into motion just yet. She opened her mouth to politely decline Hayley's offer but saw the pleading look the redhead was giving her. Hayley needed to show Trent that people could see past the things out of his control and not treat him like a leper.

"Sure," Naomi finally said.

"Glad to see that someone else doesn't mind being forced to be in my presence." Trent muttered. Naomi sighed and took a sip of water.

"Yeah, apparently being a crazed psycho can dwindle your popularity stock," she muttered. "Who'd a thunk it?"

"Okay, stop. Both of you." Hayley chastised.

"I'm sure it's no worse than being an oversensitive whiner," Trent muttered, ignoring Hayley's command. Naomi narrowed her eyes.

"At least people don't have to feel like I can't be trusted," she shot back.

"Yeah, they just don't want to spend all that much time around you," Trent replied. Naomi snorted.

"Well thank you pot, but I'm well aware that I'm black," she replied.

"Alright, that's enough," Hayley snapped. They both fell silent.

----------------------

Kira set down the plate of crackers and fruit in front of Trini, who sat at her small table in her bedroom. Trini smiled.

"Thank you Kira," she said before munching on her snack. Kira smiled and sat down beside Conner on Trini's bed. She sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"That's not a good sigh," Conner commented. He brought a hand to the back of her neck and gently massaged it.

"Well I'm not in a good mood," she muttered just to him. Conner frowned.

"What's wrong? Did Monkey boy say something to you?" He asked, an edge to his tone. Kira placed a calming hand on his thigh.

"No, no," she said. She gave another sigh. "Naomi's back and apparently being a concerned friend translates to harping or whatever, to her," she said.

"Concerned?" He asked.

"Oh yeah, our dear friend Naomi dyed and chopped off most of her hair today," Kira informed.

"Oh? How short and what color?" He inquired.

"Very short, blonde," Kira replied succinctly. Conner gave a low whistle.

"That's a bit of a change," he said. Kira nodded.

"And apparently I'm awful for thinking that…you know this sudden desire to totally change her look now, when she's not exactly in the best of spirits…is something to be concerned about," she vented. Conner nodded.

"I agree."

"Thank you," she said. Conner pressed a kiss to her temple.

"Welcome," he replied softly. He shrugged slightly. "Well, if you're right and this is….I don't know, out of all the stuff that's going on, I guess there's nothing that can be done about it. Maybe this huge change it's her way of coping….and if it's just a huge lapse of judgment when she's not in the best state of mind, she's going to have to deal with it. She's the one who's being distant and not talking about how she feels. There's only but so much any of us can do." Kira nodded.

"I know, I just wish there was something we could do..."

"Something tells me nothing short of getting Ethe and Dr. Hart back will fix things," he muttered gently. He chose to speak lowly, afraid that drawing attention to their missing comrade—namely Kim—would have them dealing with an unhappy seven year old. "Other than that, all we can do is be there whenever she does decide to talk or whatever." Kira just nodded in reply.

"Yeah," she said. "You're right." Conner chuckled.

"Aren't I always?" He asked. She elbowed him gently in the side.

"Don't push it," she playfully warned. Conner grinned.

"And what happens if I do?" He continued. Kira gently swatted his thigh.

"Not now," she quietly warned, giving a pointed look over to Trini who was finishing up her snack.

"But later," he teased. Kira simply blushed and coyly looked away. Conner grinned again as Trini looked up.

"Kira? Can we go to the park?" She questioned. Kira willed her Conner induced blush to fade away as she looked over at the little girl.

"I guess that could be done," she said, smiling at her. She didn't bother joking that the little one had been to the park once already that day, with Naomi, since she remembered that trip to the park had been cut short by news of Jason being on the mend. Trini smiled and all but bounced in her seat.

"Thank you!" She said. Kira and Conner chuckled at the child's adorable antics. Kira looked over at Conner.

"Want to come with?" She asked.

"As much as I'd love to," he said, the regret clear in his tone, "I think, with Tommy still over at the hospital, it'd be best if I stuck around here," he said. "You know…" He began. Kira nodded, telling him he needn't continue. He didn't want to leave Trent, someone that no matter all their best efforts couldn't shake the distrust about, alone in the house with Hayley and Naomi. If Trent truly was worthy of all the distrust, the two non-rangers would have little means of defending themselves if he chose to show his true colors.

"Got'cha," she said. She looked over at Trini. "Alright, kid, guess it's just you and me," she said. Trini jumped up and started for her door.

"Can we play on the swings?"

"I don't see why not," Kira replied. She gave a quick kiss to Conner before standing up and joining Trini. She took her hand and left the room with her. Conner followed them down the stairs.

"See you later." He commented as Kira and Trini headed out of the house, closing the door behind them. Once they were gone he ventured to the kitchen to see if his current self-imposed charges could be found. The only one to be seen was Naomi, sitting alone at the kitchen table sipping from a bottle of water. Though Kira had warned him about Naomi's new look beforehand, seeing it for himself was still a bit of a surprise.

"Hey," she said when she saw him come in.

"Hey," he replied.

"What's up?" She asked. Conner shrugged and took a seat across from her at the table.

"Not much, Kira just left with Trini for the park," he said.

"Oh...But she went earlier today." Naomi commented.

"She wanted to go again?" Conner shrugged. "Kids do like to frequent parks," he added.

"Gosh, really?" Naomi replied, rolling her eyes. Conner shot a glare at her, and Naomi put her hands up in defense. "Sorry." She replied. She looked down at her bottle of water. "Hope she's having fun with Kira." Conner smiled.

"I'm sure she had fun with you this afternoon." Naomi made a noncommittal 'hmm' noise and took another sip of water.

"Why didn't you go with them?" She asked.

"Eh, wasn't in the mood," he replied.

"Uh huh, sure." She replied.

"What?" Conner innocently asked. Naomi snorted.

"In the—albeit short—time I've known you guys, there hasn't been many occurrences of you 'not being in the mood' to be joint at the hip with your girlfriend," she teased. Conner rolled his eyes and glanced around.

"It didn't feel right leaving you and Hayley alone with Trent." He commented honestly.

"Ah, the truth comes out," Naomi replied. Conner shrugged. "He's downstairs with Hayley. I was banished up here since Trent and I can't seem to be in the same room without trading snide remarks," she informed.

"I thought you were going to pretend to be his buddy," Conner pointed out, referring to the plan she herself had come up with. Naomi shrugged.

"Guess I need more prep before attempting to play nice with the guy," she said. Conner nodded.

"We all do."

"Yeah," she replied. "I don't get how Hayley can do it, I mean it's not like he didn't do anything to her," she said, thinking back to that night at Cyberspace when Trent knocked Hayley unconscious. "I guess the quantity of sucky things inflicted by him correlates with ability to be okay around him," she joked.

"Well when you put it like that, I'm surprise you're not ripping his head off and splattering the walls with his innards," Conner replied in kind. Naomi chuckled.

"Hmm, that is a tempting thought." She sighed. "But maybe to some degree I brought that shit upon myself," she muttered.

"Naomi," Conner sighed. Naomi continued regardless.

"I'm serious," she said. "If I hadn't had such a hissy fit about…" she paused as her jaw tensed ever so slightly, like she was holding back a sudden urge to cry, "Ethan….being less than truthful about the whole wooing blue ranger thing….Trent wouldn't have been able to slither in….and who knows what could've been avoided," she said. Conner shook his head.

"My mom always says that everything happens for a reason."

"I'm having trouble finding the reason in a lot of things that have gone on," Naomi replied. Conner nodded.

"Yeah," he agreed. "But it's not like anything can be done about what's happened in the past. And who's to say things would've played out any differently anyway?" Naomi nodded.

"Yeah, I guess so." She finished off the last of the water in the battle and leaned back in her chair. She reeled back and launched the empty bottle to the garbage can from her seat. The bottle fell short from it's destination by at least half a foot. "Well that sucked," she chuckled.

"Good job." Conner teased.

"Oh, you think you could do better?" Naomi challenged.

"I don't think, I know," he replied. She reached down and picked the bottle up, throwing it at Conner.

"Give it a try hot shot." She commented. Conner caught the bottle.

"Prepare to be dazzled," he boasted. He leaned back and held the bottle like a basketball player preparing for a lay-up. He aimed for the garbage can and launched the bottle. Unfortunately the projectile overshot the can completely and hit a figure coming up to the kitchen from the underground base, Trent. The bottle clattered noisily to the ground. Trent stared down at the plastic bottle that had bounced off the front of his thigh before hitting the floor. The room was quiet as both Naomi and Conner weren't sure whether to say something or burst out in the snickers they were holding back. Trent slowly brought his eyes up from the bottle and narrowed them at the two.

"What. The. Hell?" he snapped. Naomi suddenly snorted and broke out into a fit of laughter. Trent glared at her. "This is funny to you?" He growled.

"Yeah," she said between giggles. She wrapped her arms around her sides as she couldn't help laughing even harder. Her laughter became contagious as Conner began to chuckle as well. Trent's glare intensified before he stealthily reached down and picked up the bottle. Conner's chuckles quickly ceased as the bottle hit the side of his head without warning.

"Hey, you're right," Trent chuckled, "it is funny."

"What the hell man?!" Conner snapped.

"What, you can dish it out but can't take it?" Trent countered. Naomi scoffed.

"Funny to hear you say that," she remarked.

"Indeed it is. And by the way, the bottle hit your thigh, and was meant for the can. You hit my head."

"Oh well," Trent snidely replied.

"Gosh and you wonder why people don't like you," Naomi stated in a false astonished tone.

"Nobody asked for your opinion, ms queen of the peanut gallery." Naomi rolled her eyes and stood up. She glared at Trent with her arms folded across her chest.

"And yet there you have it. Sort of like a few things I didn't ask for but happened anyway. Funny how that is, huh?" She asked. Trent tightened his jaw.

"You're not the only one who had to endure unpleasant things," he said between clenched teeth.

"Well I'm looking at one of the unpleasant things I had to endure," she snapped. "I wish you fell in your dad's little pit of doom instead of Ethan," she hissed.

"I thought I told you all to stop arguing." Came Hayley's voice from the stairs. Naomi rolled her eyes.

"Not arguing, just making a statement," Naomi called back before returning her glare to Trent.

"I doubt that." She replied.

"Whatever," Naomi muttered to herself. Trent looked away.

"I didn't ask to be forced to stay here," Trent commented. "You want me gone, I'll go."

"I'm sure your little buddies would love that," Naomi replied. Trent gave her an odd look.

"What are you talking about?" He asked. Conner quickly stood up and went over to Naomi. Having her voice all their suspicions wouldn't be the most prudent thing in the current situation.

"Naomi," he gently warned, trying to tell her to stop.

"Who knows who you're actually trying to help Trent. Maybe you're conveniently forgetting things about that time," Naomi went on, ignoring Conner's warning. Trent scoffed.

"You know what Naomi, I may be a lot of things but a masochist isn't one of them," he replied. "If I could 'conveniently' forget anything believe me I'd have no memory of _any _of the things that went on back then. But unfortunately that's not the case. Instead of having the slightest idea of where your friends are, I have to suffer through knowing I hurt people who were my friends." Naomi rolled her eyes.

"Last time I checked, friends didn't cut friends brakes and nearly kill them. Or kidnap their friend's girlfriends." Trent quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Technically, wasn't that more kidnapping my own girlfriend?" Trent countered. Naomi narrowed her eyes in to thin slits.

"I'd rather not be reminded of vomit inducing things, thank you very much," Naomi hissed. She wished she could block out ever falling victim to Trent's false charms and ever agreeing to go out with him in the first place. Conner snorted, unable to keep a comment to himself.

"And something tells me giving the girl a black eye beforehand sort of removes any illusions of her being your girlfriend," he replied. Trent's jaw tightened at that before he quickly looked away.

"Like you're perfect." Trent snarled.

"I'm sorry," she said, casting a look at Conner, "did you ever deceive and lie to Kira? Did you ever kidnap her? Did you ever inflict any bodily harm on her whatsoever?" She paused before turning back to Trent. "Hmm, you know I really don't think you've got much of a leg to stand on in the sucky significant other department, stumpy."

"You know, for someone who claims to want to blank out any memory of dating me and goes on about her little blue ranger, you sure seem to bring up things about our time together quite a lot," Trent sneered. "What's wrong, did someone get her little heart broken by yours truly?" He asked. Naomi's eyes blazed in anger. Before Conner could think of stopping her, she strode towards Trent and slapped him across the face.

"You're right," she hissed. "You broke my heart when that little pit of doom closed up and you weren't in it."

"Well gosh, Naomi," he replied, lightly touching his stinging cheek. "If I'd fallen in the chasm, who'd be around to help you find your precious Ethan?"

"You know, that'd mean something if you were actually helping," Naomi spat back. "But you're playing selective memory boy it seems."

"I'd rather play that than stuck up bitch." He snapped back.

"Of course," Naomi shot back, "I mean, I guess playing that role would be a bit close to your former one, right? You know the one of your daddy's little bitch." Trent's eyes darkened.

"Do. Not. Go there," he hissed.

"Oh? Why not? It's true." Trent clenched his jaw and took a step back. He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath.

"I wouldn't talk about parents if I were you," he said after a moment.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Naomi asked. Trent looked at her and tilted his head to the side, showing he seemed to know something.

"If you really want me to go there, I'd gladly do so," he said in a low tone. Naomi didn't react.

"You have no 'there' to go to," she replied. Trent smirked.

"You know," he began, returning to his normal tone, "since you feel like discussing things going on when my dad was controlling things, let's have at it. I'm sure you figured it was his idea I ask you out, to get info and all that."

"Aw, you mean you didn't have genuine feelings for me? Oh, I'm hurt," she replied dryly.

"Well a part of that was…well, let's just say, surveillance," he pointed out. Naomi's face fell. Now that she didn't know.

"Excuse me?" She asked. "….You were spying on me? You pervert!"

"Don't flatter yourself," Trent shot back. "As if I wanted to see _that,_" he said. "But what I did see was a certain someone's mom and dad being noticeably absent…..quite a lot," he said. Naomi glared at him.

"At least my parents are still alive, absent or not." She spat.

"My parents might be dead, but at least they cared about me when they were alive," he hissed.

"Doubt that." She replied. Trent didn't back down. He was certain about the bond he had with his deceased parents. They never failed to shower their love on him, but he knew the subject of parents was a sensitive one for Naomi.

"You know," he said with a smirk. "You've said how deceptive I was when I asked you out, but what about you?"

"What _about _me?" Naomi countered.

"What was it Naomi, feeling so starved for someone to care about you that the second someone even pretends to you buy it hook line and sinker?" He asked. "I mean why else was it so easy to reel you in?"

"Shut up," Naomi growled. Trent shrugged.

"Gosh, who knows what could've happened if I was actually trying," he sneered.

"You're a pig," Naomi hissed. Trent chuckled.

"So you don't deny things could've gone there? Wow, it's like a movie of the week. Poor love starved little girl." He cast a look over Naomi's shoulder at Conner. "You better be careful about how much of a good friend you are to this one. She might take it the wrong way."

"At least she has friends," Conner replied.

"Who cares? Friends will only get you so far in life." Trent snarled.

"And yet you have no friends and…I really don't see you going very far," Conner replied.

"Unless you count someone drop kicking you far," Naomi smirked. Trent glared at her.

"I'd like to see you try," he threatened.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" She innocently asked.

"Obviously." Conner snorted from behind her. Trent's eyes narrowed.

"I don't think you'd be so tough if your little bodyguard wasn't standing behind you," Trent stated.

"I don't have a bodyguard." She replied calmly. Trent snorted.

"Whatever. If Conner wasn't standing right there, you'd be a scared little bunny," he stated. Naomi smirked.

"You think so, huh?" She asked.

"Oh, I know."

"Conner, why don't you go see what Hayley's up to?" Naomi replied, challenging Trent's assumptions.

"No offense Naomi, but if Monkey Boy's here, I'm staying," Conner replied.

"STOP CALLING ME MONEY BOY!" Trent raged. Conner stepped forward and took hold of Naomi's elbow to pull her away from Trent. He wasn't going to chance him trying anything in this outburst. What he wasn't expecting was Trent's fist to collide with his cheek, sending him crashing into the counter. The side of his head hit the corner of the counter before he fell to the floor. Naomi gasped and stared wide eyed at Trent.

"What the hell?!" She cried. Trent stared down at Conner for a moment, surprised by his own actions. He hadn't intended on even actually hitting Conner. He had meant to just swing at him to get a reaction out of the red ranger. Naomi kneeled beside Conner. "What, being the cause of one head trauma to Conner wasn't enough for you?" She snarled at Trent.

"I....I didn't...." Trent began.

"Conner, Conner wake up," Naomi spoke as she shook Conner's shoulder.

"What the hell is going on up here?" Hayley commented as she finally came into the kitchen after hearing a loud thud. She froze at the scene before her. "Oh my god, what happened?" She worriedly asked.

"Ask him," Naomi snapped, looking at Trent. Hayley's gazed flew towards Trent for an explanation. Trent blinked and looked at her.

"I….I didn't mean to…." He breathed out.

"Really?" She questioned, her skepticism obvious in her tone.

"I wasn't going to actually hit him," Trent replied.

"You know what a great way to avoid actually hitting someone is? Not swinging at them!" Naomi replied. She looked back at Conner. "Conner, come on, wake up." Conner groaned.

"Ow, my head," he grumbled.

"Oh thank god." Hayley breathed. She kneeled down at his other side. "Can you get up?" She asked.

"Yeah, I think so…" Conner muttered.

"Come on, let's get you over to the couch," Hayley suggested. She and Naomi took hold of his arms to help him up. Behind them, Trent decided to take his chance. Without a word he quickly shoved past Naomi and took off for the door.

"Trent!" Hayley called out to stop him, but to no avail. The front door slammed shut, leaving the three with the house to themselves.

"That's not good," Naomi commented.

---------------------

Meanwhile at the park, Kira was busy pushing Trini on the swings.

"Higher!" Trini called out between bursts of laughter. Kira chuckled.

"Alright, but just a little bit," Kira replied, putting a little more force behind her push. Trini giggled as she enjoyed the added height the harder push gave her. Kira smiled and continued pushing her. After a few moments, the hard pushing stopped, as Kira resumed a normal pace. "Sorry kiddo, my arms hurt!" She commented as she continued to push Trini.

"Aw," Trini pouted, but quickly made due with the change in pushing. Kira laughed as she continued to push the little girl.

"Oh, well isn't this precious?" Came a sneering voice that Kira knew all too well. Kira gasped and quickly wrapped her arms around Trini's waist as the swing came back toward her, snatching the young child up in her protective grasp.

"What do you want?" Kira demanded, backing away from the swings. Elsa smirked as she sauntered through the park.

"Simple, the destruction of all you power brats," she replied. Kira rolled her eyes.

"Glad to see nothing changes." Trini fearfully clung to Kira. Kira slowly put Trini down on the ground

"Do not stop running until you get home." She told the 7-year-old quietly. Trini stared up at her.

"But-"

"Go," Kira gently ordered. Trini nodded and took off back towards the house. Elsa chuckled.

"You should've taken your own advice," she said. Kira rolled her eyes.

"Don't think so Elsa... I'm prepared this time," she said, flashing her gem.

"Oh how nice," Elsa sneered. Kira grinned.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up, HA!" She yelled as she morphed into her ranger gear. "Bring it, Elsie," Kira taunted. Elsa growled and charged at the yellow ranger. Kira quickly reacted and swung her leg out, catching the villainess in a roundhouse kick. Elsa screeched as she flew backwards.

"You bitch!" She screamed.

"Look who's talking," Kira replied, standing in a defensive stance ready for any further attacks from Elsa. "Now you can either run on with your tail between your legs or get more of a butt kicking," Kira threatened. Elsa growled.

"I believe it is you who will be getting the butt kicking," she replied before charging at Kira again. Kira rolled her eyes. Dodging Elsa's attack was easy. She threw a few well placed punches before the villainess threw up her arms, and screamed with defeat. "This isn't over!" She yelled before disappearing.

"Funny how it sure looks like it is," Kira chuckled before powering down. She glanced around the park before starting back to Dr. Oliver's house. She prayed that Trini had made it back to the house without incident.

------------------

Back at Tommy's house, Conner was laying on the living room couch. Hayley had sequestered her self back in the lair after being too frustrated with what had just transpired to be around him and Naomi without feeling the need to yell at them.

"Here, but this on your head," Conner heard Naomi say as she came in from the kitchen, a towel of ice in hand. Conner accepted the towel and placed it gingerly on his head.

"Ouch." He muttered. "So, is Hayley still mad?" He curiously asked.

"Oooh yeah," Naomi said as she leaned against the arm of the couch. They remained silent for a moment. "How's your head? You don't have a concussion do you?" She questioned.

"Nah," Conner replied. "It just hurts a bit." He cast a look over at her. "Are you okay?" He asked. Naomi shrugged.

"Um yeah, why wouldn't I be? You're the one that got hit, not me," she reminded him.

"Well yeah. But Trent was the one who freaked out on you." He pointed out. "And said those things about your parents," he added. Naomi scoffed.

"What, did you actually buy that crap?" She asked. She looked away. "That was just little orphan Trentie trying to make himself feel better by making stuff up." Conner looked up at Naomi and decided not to press the issue anymore. Clearly she wasn't comfortable with the subject, so he felt it better not to pry. "The whole...'surveillance' thing though…eeccch," she muttered, shuddering a bit. "I think I could've gone without knowing that." Conner chuckled.

"No kidding." Just then, the door was shoved open as Trini ran into the house. Naomi turned and looked at the young girl.

"Trini?" She questioned. "Where's Kira?" Trini quickly ran over to Naomi and latched onto her.

"The mean lady showed up at the park," she whimpered. Conner's brows furrowed and he quickly sat up, holding back a hiss at the slight pain the sudden movement caused.

"What mean lady?" Conner asked. Naomi gently rubbed the frightened child's back.

"The lady that was with the dinosaur man," Trini replied.

"Elsa?" Conner pressed. Trini nodded against Naomi. "I knew it!" Conner hissed. Naomi glanced up at him with a questioning look. "Oh, what, it's just a coincidence that Elsa makes an appearance right when Trent breaks lose?" He asked.

"He wasn't there." Trini commented.

"Doesn't mean he's not involved," Conner replied. He rose to his feet.

"Where are you going?" Naomi asked.

"Where do you think?" Conner replied.

"Oh no you don't, sit down Mr." She chastised.

"I'm not going to leave Kira alone out there," Conner argued.

"You wouldn't be." Came a voice from the door as Kira walked in. Conner looked at her.

"You're okay," he sighed with relief before grabbing her in a hug.

"Yeah I'm fine...Why the hell are you bleeding!?"

"It's nothing," Conner quickly replied.

"Conner, people don't spontaneously bleed," Kira countered.

"Trent hit him," Naomi informed. Kira looked at Naomi.

"How would Trent hitting him cause him to bleed from his forehead?"

"Trent's hit knocked him head first into the counter," Naomi replied. Kira blinked and looked at Conner. She was silent for a moment before she smacked his arm.

"You left that part out!" Conner groaned.

"I'm fine," Conner replied.

"Really?"

"Yes, really," Conner insisted. Kira nodded.

"Well, where's Trent? I'd like to give him a piece of my mind," Kira said, though her tone suggested she'd like to give him a piece of her fist.

"Um….well…." Naomi began.

"...Um....Well...What? Where is he?"

"We're not all that sure about that," Naomi said. "He ran out of here."

"He what?" Kira asked, astonished. She blinked. "Oooh Dr. O's going to be maaaad," Kira commented.

"Oh well, who cares?" Conner replied. Naomi sighed and looked down at Trini.

"Hey hun, how about we go upstairs and play?" She suggested, deciding to engage the still shaken little girl in something enjoyable. Trini nodded and headed upstairs. Naomi looked back over at Conner. "You better keep that ice on your head, you wouldn't want it to swell up more than usual," she kidded before following Trini upstairs. Conner just rolled his eyes in her direction before focusing back on Kira.

"Are you okay?" He asked. "Elsa didn't hurt you or anything, did she?" He asked. Kira smirked.

"Elsa didn't lay a finger on me," she chuckled. Conner smiled and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"Good." He replied. Kira returned the smile.

"Come on, let's sit down so you can keep the ice on your head," she suggested. "Alright." Conner replied. The two went to the couch and sat down. Kira took the towel of ice from him and made him lay his head on her lap as she held the ice on his cut. They sat quietly for a few moments before Kira spoke. "Are you sure you're okay?" She questioned gently.

"Yeah," Conner replied. "Don't worry."

"Can't help it," Kira replied.

"I'm fine," he assured her. "Trent just got a lucky shot in and got me by surprise."

"Obviously." She replied. Conner sighed and simply let Kira care for him.


End file.
